LONDON – The UK Government has announced further sanctions against Russian carriers that will prevent them from selling their landing slots at British airports.
The New Sanctions…
Ever since Russia started waging war on Ukrainian land back in February this year, many Western countries have imposed significant and heavy sanctions causing a major dip in Russia’s well-established economy.
The latest sanctions from the United Kingdom will suffer yet another blow to Russia’s economy and their airlines, as it will prevent them from selling their landing slots at British airports.
Their landing slots, according to the UK Government, are estimated to be valued at up to £50 million, of which if these were sold, this would help Russia in recovering its heavily hit economy, however, this will now not be the case.
Commenting on the new sanctions, British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, has said, “As long as Putin continues his barbarous assault on Ukraine, we will continue to target the Russian economy. We’ve already closed our airspace to Russian airlines.”
“Today we’re making sure they can’t cash in their lucrative landing slots at our airports. Every economic sanction reinforces our clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin – we will not stop until Ukraine prevails.”
These new sanctions will mainly hit Russia’s flag carrier and state-owned airline, Aeroflot, with their slots that they currently hold at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) but will also hit their owned Rossiya Airlines as well as Ural Airlines.
This announcement comes as the UK’s Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps takes up the Presidency of the International Transport Forum. He will also use this forum to call for a united response across many Western allies against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Grant Shapps has also said this:
“The UK was one of the first nations to implement sanctions on Putin and his allies; we forbade entrance to their ships and planes, strangling them of the privilege to benefit from global trade and commerce.”
“Today, the UK Government has built on the strong action we have already taken against Russia’s flagship carrier Aeroflot, along with Rossiya and Ural Airlines.”
“This means they will be unable to use their expensive landings slots at UK airports. Our actions will also prevent Russia from selling the slots and cashing in on up to £50 million.”
Their Sanction Profiles
Aeroflot, which is Russia’s largest airline and is also among the top 20 largest airlines in the world, is majority-owned by the Russian state.
Their continuation of service is providing not just the Russian economy, but also the Kremlin, a major source of revenue, so heavily restricting the airlines’ operations globally, will aid in hampering that source of income for the Kremlin.
On top of this, the UK has also placed sanctions back in March on the Chief Executive Officer of Aeroflot, Mikhail Igorevich Poluboyarinov, which has subjected the airline to an asset freeze.
Not only this but both Rossiya Airlines and Ural Airlines are subject to the same sanctions as both carriers provide significant revenue streams to the Kremlin alongside Aeroflot, both carriers, as well as Aeroflot, are also subjected to an asset freeze from the British Government.
