Uptick in US aircraft parts smuggling into Russia, bypassing export controls
Russian civil aviation is facing a severe crisis as Western sanctions make it difficult to import plane components, with a reported uptick in the amount of US aircraft parts smuggled illegally into Russia.
On 13 February, the US Department of Justice announced that it had charged three people with illegally exporting aircraft components from the US to Russia.
The three defendants — employees of Flighttime Enterprises, an American subsidiary of a Russian company — allegedly shipped goods to Russia without the required licences.
The US implemented these checks following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A statement released by the Southern District of Ohio detailed that four plane parts valued collectively at more than €1.86 million ($2 million) were exported without the necessary controls.
The indictment also specified that the three defendants "knowingly and wilfully violated" export restrictions, reportedly using intermediary companies to conceal the final destination of the goods they were handling.
'We will not tolerate export violations or smuggling of items contrary to US laws to any part of the world, Russia included,' said US Attorney Kenneth L. Parker.
US-made Boeing and EU-made Airbus planes make up two-thirds of Russia's commercial fleet and carry about 90 percent of its passengers, according to Radio Free Europe.
Russia's aviation industry has been heavily impacted by Western sanctions, struggling to get hold of the parts it needs to upkeep its aircraft.
This has led airlines to put passenger safety at risk, with exiled Russian investigative outlet Novaya Gazeta reporting that there has been a sharp increase in plane failures in Russia.
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