78 aircraft were seized abroad but 571 foreign aircraft out of 781 have already been re-registered in Russia , said Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov !

Russian carriers lost 78 aircraft as they were seized abroad , but 571 foreign aircraft out of 781 have already been transferred to the register of the Russian Federation , Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said.

While speaking at a government hour in the Federation Council on Wednesday, he said, 

“The aircraft fleet of Russian airlines has been preserved, their safe operation has been organized – 571 out of 781 foreign-made passenger aircraft have already been transferred to the Russian register.”

According to the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, as of the end of March, 972 aircraft were registered in the Russian registry. At the end of March, Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev said that more than 1.3 thousand aircraft were operated in the country. At the same time, Russian airlines lost 78 aircraft as a result of arrests abroad.

Approx. $12 billion worth of leased jets, those belong to Lessors like "Ireland-based SMBC Aviation Capital" and "Singapore-based BOC Aviation" apart from "AerCap" are stuck in Russia , due to the sanctions.

Last month ,  The International Civil Aviation Organization was critical of this exercise , saying ,

"Any dual registration of foreign-owned aircraft leased by Russian carriers would be inconsistent with parts of a key agreement that sets out core principles for global aviation."

The development was part of the sanctions from Europe and other countries against Russian Invasion of Ukraine , due to which Aircraft Leasing companies were forced to terminate the Leasing agreements and Recover their aircraft from Russian Operators / airlines.

Particularly , the EU banned the supply of civil aircraft and spare parts to Russia, and asked lessors to terminate contracts with Russian airlines by the end of March.

Additionally, Aircraft maintenance and insurance services were also banned, while the European Union, the United States , Canada and multiple other countries banned the Russian aircraft to their Airspace.

To counter these issues, Russian Federal Air Transport Agency recommended that Russian airlines with aircraft in foreign registries suspend flights abroad from March 6, and from abroad , from March 8, in order to avoid the seizing of the aircraft registered abroad and owned by foreign leasing companies.

Among the 78 seized aircraft, there was one Jumbo ,  Leasing company BOC Aviation repossessed it's Boeing 747-8 Aircraft from the Russian Volga-Dnepr subsidiary 'Air Bridge Cargo' on 25th March 22.