Private planes of Russian oligarchs continue to fly, but not to Europe

A private Boeing 737 plane linked to Russian oligarch Volodymyr Yevtushenkov has been traveling around the world for the past two years before the conflict in Ukraine began. This plane visited such places as the French Riviera, the Maldives, the Seychelles, as well as international capitals and financial centers. In the current year, the plane visited former Soviet republics such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus, as well as China several times, Reuters reports. Some Russian billionaires are finding ways to keep private jets in the air, but their flights are becoming increasingly restricted, according to reports. The Boeing plane linked to Yevtushenkov was just one of more than 50 private planes re-registered under the Russian flag. Some of these planes belong to famous politicians and businessmen. According to the sources, Yevtushenkov personally used the Boeing-737 aircraft. However, the businessman refused to comment on issues related to this plane. More than half of Russia's private and corporate aircraft, about 400 units, are located abroad or have already been sold. The total number of business jets with the Russian flag is 145 units, compared to 97 at the beginning of 2022. Some aircraft owners fly from Russia to Turkey or other former Soviet republics and then lease other aircraft at European Union airports if they are not subject to personal sanctions. This scheme is used at least once a week. Some of the repaired private planes are linked to state-owned enterprises and businessmen who support Vladimir Putin. For example, the Uralkali company, previously headed by Dmitry Mazepin, imported the Bombardier Challenger 650 aircraft. The Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft was imported by VEB.RF, which was headed by the former first vice-premier Igor Shuvalov. Like the Boeing plane associated with Yevtushenkov, other re-registered planes also avoided European Union airspace and tried to stay in Russia's "friendly" countries. In 2023, the plane associated with Yevtushenkov made 47 flights within Russia and nine times to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and China. The US Department of Commerce included in the list of sanctions the planes of Russian companies engaged in business transportation. Three Gulfstream Aerospace G450 business jets and one Airbus A320 of the American airline Meridian, two Gulfstream G550 and G650 of the Russian company North-West, one G650 jet were blacklisted and a Boeing 737 of the Russian company Premier Avia, as well as one Airbus A319 of the RusJet company. Of the nine planes that were sanctioned, only two Meridian planes continue to fly within Russia, as well as to Turkey (Istanbul, Dalaman and Bodrum) and Azerbaijan (Baku). Another Gulfstream has not flown since last September, and another since June 2023. The planes of other operators stopped flying in late July-early August.