Russia will either have to persuade Western lessors to sell it more than 500 aircraft, which now make up about half of the civil air fleet of the Russian Federation, or return the aircraft to their Western owners. This follows from the statement of the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Savelyev.

" Because the company's lease payments must continue to be paid,"

At the same time, he noted that Russian airlines are trying to negotiate with lessors on the purchase of aircraft (bypassing the sanctions, - ed.. ), "

" ) more than 500 foreign-made aircraft. ) I'll just tell you the amount of the buyout - this is $ 20 billion in residual value, if you buy back what we underpaid. This is a very large amount,"

According to a Russian official, the situation already threatens to default either Russian airlines or banks.

" This is about 200 billion rubles. for all airlines, because our banks - that's about 20 plus banks - issued letters of credit against foreign banks, guaranteeing these payments. Now these letters of credit have been opened and the default of the airlines, which will take place on March 28, we hope to find a solution by this time (. ), this default will give a cross-default on our banks. Therefore, either banks suffer, or airlines, because banks make claims,"

Recall that on February 26, the European Union imposed sanctions that prohibit the supply of civil aircraft and spare parts to Russia, as well as their maintenance and insurance..

In addition, the sanctions oblige lessors to terminate their existing contracts with Russian airlines by March 28..

In total, in the Russian Federation there are now about 1.3 thousand. aircraft, previously reported in the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has already lost 78 of the 1,367 civilian aircraft that were arrested abroad as part of the demands of lessors..

Earlier, Russia also warned that in the event of a shortage in the domestic market, it would steal products without the permission of the copyright holders.. In particular, the Russian Federation has already begun stealing aircraft from lessors and launching them into the sky without airworthiness certificates..