Russia to use Iran experience to overhaul aircraft
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Russia is learning from the Iranian experience with sanctions to circumvent the western arbitrary measures and revive its aviation sector.
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A Russian Aeroflot airliner
Russia is being guided by Iran's experience of how to service aircraft under sanctions, i.e., circumventing sanctions to overcome challenges on the purchase of spare parts for aviation, Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said Tuesday.
Iran's long experience with sanctions comes after the United States imposed harsh sanctions on the country after Washington withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in 2018, under then-President Donald Trump, citing "lack of compliance," despite his country completely abandoning its commitments.
Regarding sanctions on Russian airlines, Savelyev noted that while flights were still on schedule, the airlines would require spare parts, and Russian authorities are trying to find a solution for the matter based on Iran's experience.
Nearly 80 airplanes of Russia's airlines have been seized abroad due to the sanctions on the federation, the minister said, adding that several aircraft were in friendly countries, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Moscow had tried to negotiate with western firms to purchase airliners down the line, but the latter is still kicking the can of negotiations down the road, according to Savelyev, which prompted Russia to start repatriating their airliners in a bid to start registration at home.
Russia had launched a special military operation for several reasons, including NATO's eastward expansion. Other reasons were the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass and the killing of the people of the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic, in addition to Moscow wanting to "denazify" and demilitarize Ukraine.
Following the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, various states closed off their airspace to Moscow, prompting the Kremlin to retaliate.
In response to Moscow's operation, the US and its allies have rolled out comprehensive sanctions, including restrictions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, SWIFT cutoff for select banks, and closure of airspace to all Russian flights. Many of their companies have suspended their Russian operations.
Russia's Federal Agency for Air Transport said the restrictions affected flights from and to 36 countries.
The sanctions also ended the supply of aircraft, parts, and services to Russia, and the country has some 515 airliners leased from other states.
