No decent country allows Russian civilian planes into its skies - aviation expert

He said this live on air of the Espreso TV channel.

"Russia has 600 aircraft of foreign companies and 200 aircraft of its own production. Russian airlines applied to the state for permission to remove spare parts from reserve aircraft of foreign production. Russians leased these aircraft, but now they do not return them. They re-registered these aircraft to themselves and problems began. Russian airlines were cut off from supplying spare parts, banned from insuring these planes, revoked licenses of repair service centers. No decent country allows Russian civilian planes into its skies, because they are dangerous," Romanenko explained.

According to the aviation expert, Russian civilian aircraft now fly only to tourist countries.

"Until February 24, 2022, Russian airlines flew to 67 countries, and now they only have tourist countries left - Thailand, Turkey, Egypt and one or two countries more. As soon as a Russian plane appears in other countries, it is immediately arrested," Romanenko added.

• Since the beginning of 2023, there have been at least seven accidents involving air passenger aviation transport in Russia, and many more incidents that forced cancellation or interruption of flights.

• EU member states want to adopt a new package of sanctions against the Russian Federation before the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv, which is scheduled for early February. Brussels has now stepped up work on new restrictions.