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by David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday announced sanctions against about 100 planes that visited Russia recently and are suspected of violating U.S. export controls, including a jet used by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.
On the list of 99 aircraft at risk of being grounded are mostly Boeings operated by Russian carriers, including Aeroflot, AirBridge Cargo, Utair, Nordwind, Azur Air and Aviastar-TU, in addition to Roman Abramovich’s Gulfstream G650.
The Department of Commerce will warn all affected companies worldwide that refueling, servicing, repairing, or supplying spare parts for these devices is now an offense punishable by “substantial jail time, fines, loss of export privileges or other restrictions”.
According to the US administration, this amounts to prohibiting all international flights from Russia with one of the planes on the blacklist.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimando told Reuters the move was “in order to put the world on notice that we will not allow Russian and Belarusian companies and oligarchs to travel with impunity, in violation of our laws. “.
Aeroflot, AirBridge and a spokesman for Roman Abramovich did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters.
(Report by David Shepardson, French version Valentine Baldassari, edited by Tangi Salaün)
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