Russia’s Transport Minister, Vitaly Savelyev has said the seizure of western aircraft owned and leased in Russia at the time of the invasion of Ukraine was a retaliatory measure.
He says that when sanctions were imposed on Russia due to the Ukraine invasion, 76 Russian-registered aircraft were stranded outside the country as most countries closed their airspace to them.
In response, Russia seized over 800 aircraft owned by Western leasing companies and registered them under its own flag.
Savelyev claims that Russia was taken by surprise by the decision to take away the planes and argues that the aircraft were outside the country for maintenance, storage, or on flights.
