Statements by Uter CEO Andrei Martirosov at an air show indicated that sanctions imposed by the West due to the Ukrainian war are affecting the Russian economy.
Russian officials have claimed that the country can source spare parts abroad.
“The fleet of helicopters in operation could be reduced by 30%. Of course, this mainly applies to foreign-made helicopters and domestically-made helicopters whose engines are not produced in the country,” said Martirosov, quoted by the official Tass news agency. .
UTair is the fourth largest airline in Russia, and its fleet includes fixed-wing aircraft, in addition to a helicopter fleet of over 200 helicopters that operate scheduled and charter flights, and its destinations are mainly the vast oilfields and mining regions of Siberia.
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Russia, banning Russian planes from flying to Europe and banning the export of advanced technology, including military equipment.
In addition, the European Union has joined forces to freeze Russian assets abroad and to exclude major Russian banks from the “Swift” system of financial transactions.
On April 7, the US Department of Commerce announced that Russian common carriers Aeroflot, Azur Air and UTair had been banned from receiving US goods for the next 180 days.
Meanwhile, recent data from two days ago showed that Russia’s gross domestic product contracted by 1.9% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to growth of 3% in the same period the last year.
The Russian economy contracted by 2.7% on an annual basis in the last quarter of 2022, and data from Rosstat showed that the economy contracted by 2.1% for the year as a whole. .
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
