Moscow — A passenger plane of the Russian airline Aeroflot has been detained in Sri Lanka due to the international sanctions on Moscow because of the war against Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador to Sri Lanka on Friday, saying the country should clarify the situation as quickly as possible.
The Airbus A330 aircraft was supposed to take Russian tourists back home, but was grounded at the Colombo airport on Thursday until at least June 16. This was reportedly triggered by a court decision at the request of an Irish leasing company claiming the aircraft. No details were given on the number of stranded passengers.
Aeroflot was making efforts to repatriate passengers stranded in Sri Lanka, the company said on Friday, and it suspended the sale of new tickets to Colombo.
Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Western states closed their airspace to Russian aircraft, while over 700 aircraft leased abroad have had their registration revoked. Moscow therefore transferred these machines to its own register. However, this means that they are threatened with confiscation at many airports around the world. To avoid this, Russian airlines have bought some jets from the leasing companies. This move is not considered a violation of the sanctions.
©2022 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
