The case in summary: The US and 40 other countries introduced strict sanctions against Russian aviation after Russian forces attacked Ukraine two years ago, but Russia has managed to circumvent these by buying aircraft parts from third countries. President Joe Biden has decided to punish countries that help Russia evade the sanctions, including China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and India. Criminal networks are also involved in the smuggling of aircraft parts to Russia, with a network with branches in Florida, Turkey and Russia receiving tens of millions of US dollars for parts sent to Russian airlines. Russian aviation has been hit hard by the sanctions, with an increase in serious and minor accidents after the sanctions were imposed. Russia has also started using non-original, counterfeit aircraft parts from countries such as Iran and India. Aeroflot, Russia’s state airline, has put 25 fully serviceable planes on the ground permanently to be able to pick parts for machines that will still fly. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The United States and 40 other countries imposed strict sanctions on Russian aviation quickly after Russian forces attacked Ukraine two years ago. Aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus were no longer allowed to send aircraft parts to Russia. Companies in the West also could not send aircraft parts to Russian-made aircraft. The US president introduces sanctions against countries and companies that supply aircraft parts to Russia. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP But both ship and plane loads of parts for airlines in Russia still flow. The US wants to punish third countries Now President Joe Biden has become fed up with the Russians circumventing the sanctions. The president has decided to punish several countries that help Russia avoid the sanctions, writes Reuters. Countries that are affected in the first instance are China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and India. The US Department of Commerce, together with the Foreign Service, will work with punitive measures against individual companies and authorities in the relevant countries. The work will be led by Deputy Trade Minister Alan Estevez. Aircraft parts for a billion dollars From the outbreak of war two years ago until September last year, Russia had bought original parts for its Boeing and Airbus aircraft for 1 billion US dollars, writes SimpleFlying. Putin visited Aeroflot only ten days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The picture was taken on 5 March 2022. Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev / AP At the top of the “worst list” is the Dubai-based company ATS Heavy Equipment & Machinery. In the course of one year, the company has delivered loads of aircraft parts 700 times, IStories writes. Chinese company delivers to Aeroflot The company in Dubai has received 3.9 billion rubles, which amounts to just under NOK 500 million, from Russian airlines, IStories continues. Russia and China are partners, Putin and Xi confirmed when the Russian president visited Beijing on 17 October last year. Chinese companies supply aircraft parts to Russian Aeroflot. Photo: SERGEI SAVOSTYANOV / AFP The Chinese company Xi’an Aerotek Aviation delivers the second most and has a separate agreement with Russia’s state airline Aeroflot. Xi’an Aviation has received nearly NOK 240 million from Aeroflot. Number three on the worst-selling list is a company in Turkey. The company Crynofist Aviation in the Emirates is mentioned in particular, writes Reuters, it has for a long time supplied large quantities of original aircraft parts to Russia. IStories writes that several of the companies that forward aircraft parts to the Russians are owned by wealthy Russian oligarchs. NEW: Mafia-like networks In addition to commercial companies and individual states, criminal networks are involved in the smuggling of aircraft parts. The New York Times revealed last year that a criminal network with branches in Florida, Turkey and Russia was behind thousands of shiploads of aircraft parts. The newspaper writes that FBI agents carried out raids and that several were arrested. The investigation is ongoing. The state-owned Russian airline Aeroflot. Photo: PASCAL PAVANI / AFP The network has received tens of millions of US dollars for parts sent to Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines, Ural Airlines, S7 Airlines, Utair Aviation and Pobeda Airlines. The New York Times claims that over an eight-month period in 2022, 5,000 shiploads of aircraft parts were shipped to Russia. Among the parts were everything from small screws to complete Honeywell engines, each engine valued at $290,000. During the eight months, the network is said to have received 14.4 million dollars, which Business Insider also confirms. All the parts must have been original parts from the aircraft manufacturer Boeing. The activities of criminal networks, individual countries and companies undermine the punitive measures western countries have introduced to target Russia. At the start, the Russians took aircraft parts from aircraft they chose to put on the ground, so-called “cannibalisation”. In addition, the country received non-original aircraft parts, so-called pirated copies, from Iran and India. But especially in the last year, Russian airlines have managed to circumvent the sanctions by buying original aircraft parts from third countries. More accidents Russian aviation is one of the sectors most severely affected by the punitive measures, according to The Moscow Times. Shortly after the full-scale war, Russian aviation suffered major problems due to a lack of spare parts as a result of the sanctions. There could be more cancellations for Aeroflot when countries that supply aircraft parts to the company are punished. Photo: MARIO TAMA / AFP According to The Insider, the number of serious and less serious accidents increased dramatically from mid-2022, a few months after the sanctions against Russia were introduced. The Insider claims that the increase in accidents is due to Russian aviation being unprepared when the sanctions hit the country. Nine companies completely stopped flying during 2022. Four of these were stripped of their license to operate air traffic, writes the Russian newspaper Kommersant. According to The Moscow Times, there were 130 serious incidents, including 28 plane crashes, in 2022. This is a clear increase from the previous year. Piracy from Iran Russia’s lack of parts from aircraft manufacturers leads to the use of counterfeit aircraft parts, claims Andrej Kramarenko. He is an aviation expert from The Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Aeroflot has put 25 planes on the ground to strip them of parts for other planes, so-called cannibalization. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB Kramarenko has spoken to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. – When parts arrive from places that aircraft manufacturers have not heard of or vouched for – for example from a factory in Tehran, Iran – then we can have significant technical problems. According to Andrej Kramarenko, Russia has received non-original aircraft parts from Iran. The Insider writes that Russia receives so-called pirated copies – counterfeit aircraft parts – from Iran, India and several countries in Africa. This has not been confirmed by the Russian authorities. “Cannibalisation” Already shortly after the invasion, the director of Russia’s flagship, the state-owned Aeroflot, sounded the alarm, writes Business Insider. Sergej Alexandrovsky was worried about the company’s future because they are not getting aircraft parts. Aeroflot has a number of aircraft from American Boeing and European Airbus. Aeroflot put 25 fully serviceable planes on the ground permanently so that the company can pick parts for machines that will still fly.
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Flow of aircraft parts into Russia – the US will punish accomplices – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
