Putin’s Inner Circle Travels on Western-Made Private Jets Despite Sanctions

By Bojan Pancevski

Despite sweeping Western sanctions, close allies of Vladimir Putin,m including Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov, judo pal Arkady Rotenberg, and arms oligarch Igor Kesaev, continue jetting around the globe in $75M Bombardier and Gulfstream aircraft. A shell game of brokers, intermediary firms, and re-registrations in sanction-free jurisdictions like the UAE, Kazakhstan, and Oman keeps the jets flying.

ImportGenius data was cited in the investigation to trace the paper trail, including tracking how Kesaev imported a Bombardier Global Express XRS jet in 2023, helping connect the dots between Western manufacturers, gray-market brokers, and sanctioned Russian end-users.

The Trump administration's reduced focus on sanctions enforcement has made the evasion easier, according to former OFAC director John E. Smith.

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