Aeroflot subsidiary grounded by European sanctions
European sanctions have forced Aeroflot to ground its new low-cost subsidiary Dobrolet, Russia’s national carrier said on Sunday in the most direct fallout yet of the EU’s punitive measures against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
Dobrolet will temporarily suspend all flights from Monday after European counterparties annulled aircraft insurance agreements, stopped providing aeronautical information and have refused to fulfil leasing, repair and maintenance agreements, Aeroflot said.
The move comes less than a week after Brussels added Dobrolet to its list that EU persons and entities are prohibited from doing business with.
The EU said on July 30 that as a subsidiary of a Russian state-owned airline, Dobrolet had exclusively operated flights between Moscow and Simferopol since Russia’s annexation of Crimea. “It therefore facilitates the integration of the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea into the Russian Federation and undermines Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the EU said.
The Russian government, business leaders and economists have during the past two weeks focused on the introduction of broader sanctions against Russia by both the US and the EU.
According to Gulfstream's website, the jet offers "wide seats, more aisle room and a large stateroom option for resting between world capitals."
Timchenko sold his 44% stake in Swiss-based energy trading company Gunvor in March, just 24 hours before he was hit by U.S. sanctions.