outside of the nation and these have all been deregistered internationally due to sanctions in place , moral objections of the companies that own the aircraft , or just a lack of faith in the Russia market .
Yet what has happened to those aircraft ? Some were returned to the countries where the parent company is based however , Putin was able to sign a law recently that decrees the aircraft no longer need to be registered internationally and can be registered within Russia , essentially owned by the state through a government backed program of theft .
As a retort both Boeing and Airbus ceased servicing the aircraft as well as supplying parts . This has had a flow on effect to the Russia aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi as many of their parts are made by German based Lufthansa Technik . In effect all the aircraft claimed by Russia are gradually being grounded due to a lack of maintenance . This is a dangerous precedent as a comparable situation developed in Iran due to sanctions between 2007 and 2015 . Grounded aircraft were cannibalised for parts , poorly maintained equipment was used to replace nonworking parts . Airline travel in Iran became some of the most dangerous in the world . Russia could fall into a similar trap .
There is , however , a direct upside to this for the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry . The past 30 years has seen great developments within the Russia aerospace sector and being forced into a situation as we have at the moment could see developments fastrtracked and surpass that of Boeing and even Airbus in the near future . There ’ s also an opportunity for Chinese stateowned manufacturer Comac to increase sales through Russia .
The war in Ukraine and sanctions in place has dramatically increased the distance to Russia . Although difficult , travel to and from Russia is still possible . A search of any booking website will show that many international carriers are still flying to and from Moscow and surrounds , currently most Middle Eastern based airlines have direct flights with a number of Asian companies including connecting flights . Look ahead to the coming months and you ’ ll see many European and Australian airlines flying directly to the Russia capital . Move on a little further into the year and you ’ ll find that even United States based airlines have flights available . They either have a foot in the future or are prepared to stall short term or submit to a hypocritical long term .
It ' s a situation on the streets of cities like Moscow or Saint Petersburg that has people confused , by either the path their own government has taken or by which the international community has attacked them . The people of the 195 ‘ nationalities ’ or ethnic groups of Russia have been forced to adapt in a way not since seen before the late 1980s .
Western based social media has been banned in Russia and astonishingly not for the reason we in the West have been told .
“ Facebook and Insta were prohibited to do business in Russia ,” explains Alex Nikonov of Rusmoto Travel . “ They can ’ t accept payments from Russian customers , we can ’ t advertise via Facebook or Instagram , but we can use them for personal ( or consumer purposes ).
“ People who used them before , use them now ,” he continued , explaining that it was Meta ( parent company of both Facebook and Instagram ) who shut down payments through both platforms , yet still allowed activity to continue .
Nikonov went on to explain that the Russian government restricted access to Facebook and Instagram due to the open promotion of hate speech against the Russian government , Russian soldiers , and more importantly Russian people , “ I saw such posts in my news feed personally … calling for the killing of Russians , including Russian soldiers in Ukraine .”
Ironic considering Meta says it bans all hate speech , violence , and pornography , yet seemingly promotes brutality against the Russian people . Some have witnessed posts proclaiming that Russian children should be raped , and the elderly butchered .
“ [ Our ] government said they are extremist organisations and must be limited in Russia ,” Nikonov continued as he explained that while the Russian Government IT ministry closed the Facebook traffic it didn ’ t entirely block social media . “ We ’ re allowed to use VPNs and have been told it ’ s legal to do so … around 85 % of [ Russian social media ] users still use Facebook or Instagram through VPN .”
Many Russian people are still using social media as a way of expressing themselves in protest against the war in Ukraine . For many this is not their war despite believing that sovereign nations like the USA , Australia , or any number of European nations through NATO have no right to dictate how other nations live .
At a more basic level the people of Russia , most who are far removed from Ukraine , although some do have family and friends there , are being punished for something beyond their control . Fearful for the future they do accept why sanctions have been put in place yet feel a level of sadness and frustration that the West is taking it out on the wrong people .
Sanctions have seen increases in some items , the basics of life are starting to rise , milk has seen a price increase of around 50 %, fruit and vegetables climbing 30 %. Some food stuffs have disappeared from supermarket shelves , either through international ownership or consumer stockpiling .
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