April 10, 2023

A Sanctioned Flight


A Sanctioned Flight
Cessna 172 Skyhawk in Augsburg Airport. Curimedia | P H O T O G R A P H Y, Wikimedia Commons

Journalists from LRT, the largest media group in Lithuania, discovered a scheme in which a Russian entrepreneur bought planes in the EU, bypassing sanctions by acting through companies in Turkey and Italy.

The investigation began when a Cessna 172 plane registered in Denmark landed at the Palanga Airport in Lithuania for refueling. The ultimate destination of the route was Pskov, and the pilot on the plane was a Russian citizen with a Lithuanian residence permit. When the plane was stopped by Lithuanian authorities for a check, the pilot fled.

According to LRT, the plane was bought in Denmark by Turkish company Edermont Ltd, and the intermediary was the Italian company MAK Aviation Services. Both companies are headed by Russian citizen Evgeny Kabanov. In Russia, he is known as the owner of the company Sovremenniye Techonologii, which organizes flights, maintenance, and refueling in Russia and other countries and also provides services for the import of aircraft and spare parts for aircraft to Russia, bypassing sanctions. 

"When almost all borders are closed, and sanctions impede selling aircraft, but you need to buy a plane or helicopter, we have a solution. We will help you with any international transactions. If necessary, we will contact the seller and agree on the price and terms," reads the company’s Telegram channel

According to LRT, Lithuanian and Danish authorities have started an investigation.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the EU has banned planes owned or ordered by Russians from landing in or departing from Europe. The import of aircraft and spare parts for aircraft are also banned. What's more, the biggest international aircraft manufacturers have stopped activities in Russia.

This is not the first time that journalists have revealed schemes to circumvent the sanctions imposed on Russia. Earlier, The Insider reported about a company owned by a friend of Putin’s daughter, which was importing expensive wines under the guise of "samples for certification." And Vazhnie Istorii revealed a scheme in which Western companies were supplying Russia with components for drones.

You Might Also Like

The Moscow-City Laundromat
  • March 23, 2023

The Moscow-City Laundromat

Crypto exchanges in the main commercial district of Moscow transfer money to the UK anonymously.
A Year of Decline
  • December 31, 2022

A Year of Decline

Russia’s War on Ukraine is exacting deep and enduring economic and social costs on the country.
Lust for Almost-Wandering
  • November 03, 2022

Lust for Almost-Wandering

An airport in Anapa is selling a flight experience that promises everything but the travel.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955