The representative of the logistics support agency of NATO said that the organization received information from the company Ruslan SALIS about the refusal to prolong the contract with the block for the provision of services in transportation. As RIA Novosti writes, an agreement on the air transportation of oversized cargo was concluded with the North Atlantic alliance in 2006. "These services have been in existence for more than ten years, and currently there are two separate contracts to support partner countries in the framework of the SALIS program. SALIS is an international consortium that includes ten countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, "the agency's interlocutor said.. The existing contracts were signed on January 1, 2017 - one from the companies Antonov SALIS, the second with Ruslan SALIS. Their term ends at the end of this year. "Ruslan SALIS has informed the NSPA agency that they will not continue to provide their services beyond the terms of their current contract, which will remain in effect until the end of 2018," the NATO representative said.. Currently, the unit is exploring options to meet the requirements for air transport since January 2019. Within the framework of the SALIS (Strategic Airlift International Solution) project in 2006, a joint venture of Ukrainian "Antonov Airlines" and the Russian "Volga-Dnepr".

The fact that the domestic company decided not to render any more assistance to the NATO military has become known the day before. Some experts suggested that the Russian side took such a decision as a response to the strengthening of American restrictive measures against Moscow. At the same time in various media believe that these steps by Russians will be a tangible blow for the French army, which is highly dependent on the "Ruslanov". After all, as the Soviet air giant is called in the block, our "condor" is the world's largest cargo aircraft.