Chinese companies “are ready” to deliver aircraft parts to Russian airlines, said Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
“We are ready to deliver parts to RF [Russian Federation – AeroTime], we are organizing this cooperation. Now they [companies – TASS] are working [on this – TASS], they have specific channels, there are no restrictions from the Chinese side,” Tass cited Hanhui as saying.
However, TASS has not provided information about where or to whom Hanhui was said to have made the announcement. On June 16, Hanhui participated in a panel called The Russia-China Business Dialogue within the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. While Chinese media reports that Hanhui confirmed further trade cooperation between the two countries, he has not been reported as speaking specifically about aviation.
Russian airlines have been struggling to procure aircraft and their parts due to various sanctions that followed the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In March 2022 reports surfaced that China was refusing to circumvent the sanctions and supply the parts to Russia, although these reports were not independently confirmed.
In May, Russian legislators overhauled some of the country’s aviation laws, removing major restrictions on maintenance and parts procurement and paving the way for the use of “gray” parts with no discernable origin.