“The Old Life Is Over”
Former Aeroflot deputy announces departure from Russia
03/23/2022 1:43 p.m
Since the war against Ukraine, which has to be called differently in Russia, Russians have been emigrating in droves. The deputy head of Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline, is also quitting his job and leaving the country. Now he explains his reasons.
According to a report in the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”, the former deputy chief of the Russian airline Aeroflot, Andrei Panov, has for the first time commented on why he quit his job at the airline and left Russia. “I am against this war,” quoted the “Zeit” Panow. “Everyone should be allowed to protest peacefully,” Panow said.
“I want the right to say that I am against the war. For me, for my children,” Panow said, according to the report. “As an opponent of the war, I can no longer work for a company that is owned by the state. There wasn’t much to think about.”
Panow has been on the Aeroflot Executive Board since 2018, responsible for strategy, service and marketing. On March 12, he wrote on Facebook: “I left Russia. I left Aeroflot. The old life is over.” The entry is now unavailable. On March 21, a Russian court banned online networks Facebook and Instagram in Russia.
As the “Zeit” further reported, Panow now said he had “no idea what my new life will look like, I don’t even know what the next few days will bring.”
Many countries block airspace for Russian planes
Aeroflot is the largest Russian airline and is 57.3 percent owned by the Russian state. Aeroflot CEO Mikhail Poluboyarinov is on the European Union’s list of punitive measures imposed over Russia’s attack on Ukraine. After the attack, numerous Western countries, including the EU and the USA, closed their airspace to Russian aircraft. Aeroflot suspended all international flights in early March due to Western sanctions.
Ever since the Russian war on Ukraine, which officially cannot be called that, Moscow has imposed harsh penalties on critics of the war. 15,000 people have already been arrested during demonstrations. In response to the repression, tens of thousands of Russians have left the country.