Private jets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs continue flying through European airspace despite the sanctions, Germany’s Welt am Sonntag found out using flight tracking websites.
Welt identified at least 30 such flights. The United Kingdom banned a Cessna G-LATO jet from flying in mid-March. The jet is attributed to Eugene Shvidler, a Russian oil billionaire, Welt cites the UK's Department for Transport.
The plane flew through the EU airspace eight times, including the German airspace, before it was confiscated in London. It was last used to fly between Hamburg and London on 18 May.
Another jet, attributed to Alisher Usmanov, a Russian oligarch, departed from the Munich airport on 28 February.
T7-7AA Bombardier registered in San Marino, managed by a Swiss company and most likely owned by Albert Avdolyan, travelled between Nice and Istanbul on 2 March.
A Luxembourg-registered jet, which, according to Forbes, belongs to the Russian-Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, was also able to leave Europe in April. The plane took off from Basel, crossed EU airspace and landed in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan. A helicopter belonging to Russian billionaire Alexander Zanadvorov has flown through France completely undisturbed at least eight times, says Welt.
"Enforcing sanctions against business jets and helicopters registered outside Russia and owned by non-Russian companies is sometimes difficult due to opaque ownership structures," Welt cites an unnamed EU official.
The EU and the US closed their airspace for Russian aircraft as a response to the country’s invasion into Ukraine. “We are shutting down the EU airspace for Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft, including the private jets of oligarchs,” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said on 27 February.
