Posted on 09/27/2025 7:13:46 AM PDT by jerod
Dozens of Canadian-made aircraft imported into Russia since Ukraine war began, CBC visual investigation finds
CBC News has found dozens of Canadian-made planes were imported to Russia, even following sanctions. This includes one imported by oligarch Igor Kesaev, left. The map, right, shows a route that plane flew after sanctions were put in place in February 2022. (CBC, Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters, ADS-B Exchange)
Members of Russia's business elite are flying in Canadian-made luxury planes that were imported after sanctions targeting the country's aviation sector came into place, CBC's visual investigations unit has found.
Russian import records obtained by CBC News show 34 business jets and commercial aircraft built in Canada and sold on the secondary market have ended up in Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Those records, as well as flight data, aviation industry documents and leaked border-crossing information, reveal that sanctioned oligarch Igor Kesaev imported a Bombardier business jet in July 2023. Another jet arrived in March 2024 via a company majority-owned by another oligarch, Sergey Shishkarev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Other jets were imported by Russian airlines that cater to charter flights.
Many Western observers say these aircraft end up there through loopholes that allow importers to evade sanctions by shipping the planes through countries friendly to Russia, such as Oman and Kyrgyzstan.
"It's quite clear that Russia has been able to work around some of these sanctions in the classic black market model, but with 21st-century sophistication," said Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa. "They are buying parts, even entire aircraft jets, through middlemen in countries that don't honour Western sanctions."
Hampson described it as "big business," adding that "not a whole lot" has been done to slow down or stop these transactions.
Kesaev's lawyer, Roeland Moeyersons from the Belgium-based EU-Sanctions law firm, wrote in an email: "Mr. Kesaev declines to comment on press articles. I trust you understand."
CBC reached out to Shishkarev's Delo Group but did not receive a response.
Bombardier declined to comment on specific aircraft because they were sold on the secondary market without the company's involvement and said it complied with sanctions.
Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, international sanctions were placed on the export of aircraft and parts into the country by the EU, U.S. and Canada.
Russia's air industry, a majority of which is made up of Western aircraft, has been severely affected by sanctions, but more than $1 billion worth of aircraft and parts have still reportedly been imported into the country.
In February, the U.S. Department of Justice arrested three people for allegedly operating a scheme to illegally export aircraft parts and components from the U.S. to Russia. Two months earlier, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen was indicted for allegedly attempting to export aircraft through Armenia to Russia.
Australia to Moscow, via Oman
According to records shared with CBC News by U.S. trade data company Import Genius, a Bombardier Global Express business jet was imported into Russia by Delo Group, a major Russian trade and logistics company that is majority-owned by Shishkarev, a former politician and billionaire who has been praised by Putin.
On Feb. 8, 2024, according to flight records, the plane flew from Perth, Australia, to Oman before switching to Russian registration and flying to Moscow. The plane was imported on March 30, 2024, from Oman by Delo Group.
Oman has in recent years become a hot spot for ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil heading for India, and part of a network of transhipping countries including Turkey, Belarus and Armenia that re-export goods to Russia after importation.
"We have to be honest and acknowledge that the Russian government has found a number of willing partners in Western countries as well as in other countries in the same region as Russia that have helped them to evade sanctions," said Matthew Light, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Toronto.
According to Swiss-based CH-Aviation, an aviation industry intelligence platform, the Delo plane was owned by the Bank of Utah in a trustee arrangement. The bank deregistered the plane from the U.S. on Feb. 9, 2024, and said it was being exported to Oman.
The Bank of Utah did not respond to a request for comment, but says in its FAQ for aircraft owner trusts that it "does not do business with sanctioned entities."
Oligarch who supplied Putin's army flies Canadian
The records reviewed by CBC's visual investigations unit showed that some aircraft imported into Russia were by companies that focus on luxury private charters for the country's elite.
Of the dozens of trade records reviewed by CBC, only one import to Russia had an individual's name directly attached: Igor Albertovich Kesaev — for a black Bombardier business jet.
Kesaev is a Russian oligarch who is worth $4.5 billion US, according to Forbes. He is the owner and chairman of Mercury Group, which owns Megapolis Group, the leading tobacco distributor in Russia.
He was also the main shareholder of a company invested in the Degtyarev weapons factory, which supplies the Russian armed forces. He also has links to Russia's security forces via his Monolith Foundation, which provides financial assistance to retired personnel and is staffed by former security officers.
substantial source of revenue for the government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Ukraine," according to the EU. He's also been sanctioned by the U.S. and Canada.
The jet was imported on July 10, 2023, according to records.
"Russian elites are still travelling on their private jets," said Hampson. "Sanctions at the best of times in a world of nation states are a bit like a sieve…. And the Russian oligarchs obviously, as long as they're in favour with Vladimir Putin and his regime, they can act with impunity."
Shadowy network
Aviation records provided by CH-Aviation, along with plane registration records obtained by CBC News, show that the plane imported by Kesaev was manufactured by Bombardier in Toronto in 2009 before being sold to Global Air Services Limited in 2010 for export to Bermuda.
Great point.
Funny how people who do not believe in their government because it is crooked and abusive. So they do whatever is necessary to survive. Then they immigrate to another country say, the USA. They still act the same way, they figure out how to get around a law. That is the dirty little secret of immigration!
We gotta get rid of all dual citizenships. No exceptions.
You're either American or you're something else. Pick one.
In total agreement on this one.
We knew one European years ago who carried four different passports. And then of course there is the current Prime Minister of Canada, who exemplifies the globalist game, now being adjusted because "appearance" ....
"Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney says he's written to the British and Irish governments to begin the process of renouncing his citizenship in both countries, leaving him solely with Canadian citizenship if the process is completed. [ Aren't wiggle words wonderful? ]At a leadership event in Oakville, Ont., on Friday night, Carney told reporters his belief is that as prime minister, he should hold only one citizenship.
"I have already initiated the process to renounce my citizenships in both the United Kingdom and Ireland," he said.
Carney, who was born in Canada, has held Irish citizenship for decades. He became a British citizen in 2018, five years after he began serving as governor of the Bank of England.
Mark Carney says he's begun the process of renouncing Irish, U.K. citizenship CBC, 1 March 2025
We are so lucky we don’t have “oligarchs” in America.
I call them half citizens.
“Opulence....I has it!”
😎😅
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