The UK had used new aviation sanctions to impound an aircraft after making it a criminal offence for Russian aircraft to fly or land in the United Kingdom, UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps said.
“Last night, I also signed a law which closes off some of those loopholes to do with trying to work out the ownership of some of these aircraft,” Shapps told BBC TV.
“There is one such aircraft on the ground at the moment at Farnborough that I’ve essentially impounded whilst we carry out further investigations for the last few days – and it’s very important that we have the laws available to enable that to happen.”
A British government source said the private jet was linked to Eugene Shvidler, a billionaire business associate of Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea soccer club.
“We know that it isn’t a Russian company that holds the aircraft, it’s rather a Luxembourg-registered aircraft. We are carrying out further checks before releasing it,” Shapps told LBC radio.
The UK Transport Ministry said it was working with the Civil Aviation Authority to clarify details of the jet which is registered with Global Jet Luxembourg.
UK Foreign Office said it would lay new legislation on Wednesday to implement the measures, which also include a power to remove from the British aircraft register any aircraft belonging to sanctioned Russian individuals and entities.
The new sanctions will also prevent aviation and space related exports including insurance and re-insurance.
Source: Reuters and Sputnik
