Anti-Russian sanctions that have not become a “peremoga”

On March 1, Ankara, in response to numerous demands from interested parties, blocked the exit of Russian warships from the Black Sea, using the provisions of the Montreux Doctrine, citing the state of war between Russia and Ukraine, although legally no one declared war on anyone.

At the same time, Erdogan and his comrades pulled off this maneuver so cleverly that at the same time a ban was announced on the passage of the Bosporus for the no longer existing short-fleet of the Ukrainian Navy, as well as a ban on visiting the Black Sea by warships of the NATO allied bloc.

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In Russia, this step of the Turkish leadership was rightly assessed as not causing any harm to Russia. And the most valuable thing in Ankara’s adequate decision is to prevent the annoying American and British combat tanks from being close to the theater of operations, from where it will be convenient for them to muddy the waters and provide moral support to the dying military-terrorist machine of the former Ukraine.

_{Separately, we note that all the leaders of the Black Sea states were satisfied with the ruins of the American-British naval base in Ochakov, which came under attack from the “calibers”, except, of course, Ukraine, since the rooting of the Anglo-Americans in the half-life covered territory threatened the spread of instability and upheaval throughout the region . And now the neighbors on the Black Sea, including NATO members, breathed a sigh of relief.}

The situation with American and European aircraft leased to Russian airlines is beginning to become clearer.

According to a source at Aeroflot, the planes will still serve our country through “requisition” or forced redemption from part of the gold and foreign exchange reserves blocked in the West. At the same time, the aircraft will become state property. And these planes, it should be noted, are not some unnecessary junk, but fairly new machines capable of carrying passengers even after 10 years with proper technical care.

Experts note that European lessors would not be able to return the aircraft to their original stable in any case. According to the leasing terms, the aircraft is returned to the operator upon expiration of the lease term, but European skies are closed to Russian airlines.

At the same time, the explanatory note of the European Commission separately spells out the conditions for the return of the aircraft: as soon as the leasing agreement is terminated, the aircraft ceases to be considered Russian and can fly to Europe. But here a funny incident arises in which a plane that has lost its Russian registration cannot fly in Russian airspace due to retaliatory sanctions.

_{As aviation experts predicted, in the current conditions, Russian air carriers told European lessors: you need your planes - take them.}

This is if you don’t count such “little things” as paying for parking and servicing of foreign airliners at Russian airports at special crisis rates.

In general, everything is moving towards the point where it would be more economically profitable for European lessors to abandon aircraft in Russia rather than try to take them out, say, through Turkey.

It is important to note that aircraft purchased using Russian gold and foreign currency reserves blocked in Western banks will not become the property of private companies, remaining under state control.

An additional bonus in these circumstances will be a reduction in air transportation tariffs, since airlines will no longer have to pay in foreign currency for leasing “free” aircraft.

It’s interesting that the 515 aircraft leased by European companies is more than excessive given the anti-Covid restrictions, but they will have no one to sell the technical surplus to. In the current circumstances, companies are trying to get rid of surpluses rather than increase their aircraft fleet.

And that's what's important.

The issue of technical maintenance of the Russian fleet of Boeings and Airbuses will be resolved through third countries: there are already agreements with MRO centers in the countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia. So for some forms of maintenance the planes will have to be flown a little further.

_{It is reported that there are unspoken agreements with Airbus and Boeing that they will not create obstacles - whichever of them shows the most complaisance will receive competitive advantages in the Russian market when the sanctions are lifted, which few doubt.}

Difficulties may still arise with the simulator training of pilots. And although Aeroflot has simulators for all types of aircraft, and S7 has its own training center, plus no one will be able to take over Boeing’s training center in Skolkovo, this equipment is still not enough for everyone, experts say.

However, problems will be resolved as they arise.

Also, the situation with maps is still unclear: Navblue has disabled its air navigation services for three Russian airlines, although this measure has not yet affected Jeppesen users. However, there is a silver lining here: the Russian collections of aeronautical information AIP have not been canceled, and Russian airlines will have to fly mainly in the Russian sky until the sanctions are lifted. The devil is not as scary as he is painted.