Moscow — The deputy general director of Russia's largest airline Aeroflot has announced he has left both the country and his job.
"We have left Russia. I have left Aeroflot. The old life is over," Andrey Panov wrote on Facebook on Saturday. It was not clear, however, if he was referring to the invasion of Ukraine.
Panov had been deputy general director of Aeroflot for strategy, service and marketing since 2018.
Sergey Alexandrovsky, the former head of the Aeroflot subsidiary Rossiya, will replace Panov, the Interfax news agency reported.
Andrei Kalmykov, head of the low-cost airline Pobeda, which also belongs to the Aeroflot group, had already resigned.
Aeroflot chief executive Mikhail Poluboyarinov was personally sanctioned by the European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In addition, the EU ordered that Russia may not receive passenger aircraft and spare parts, and the aircraft may no longer be maintained and insured.
Leasing contracts with Russian airlines must be terminated by the end of March. The sanctions are likely to hit Aeroflot and Pobeda, which rely almost exclusively on Airbus and Boeing aircraft, hard.
Poluboyarinov's fate is unclear for now. The business newspaper RBK reported that he had resigned from his position at Aeroflot, which was confirmed by the Interfax agency.
It is speculated that he could become the deputy general director of the Russian Post.
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