Due to the sanctions that ban them from flying in any other airspace more than 100 Russian jets trying to escape those sanctions is stranded in Dubai.
Now that Switzerland has broken its centuries-old neutrality by siding against Russia in Europe’s ‘first war since WWII’ (or at least the first since NATO bombed the bejesus out of Belgrade in the 1990s), Dubai and a few other eastern cities have been jockeying to become the ‘Switzerland of the East.’
The most notable of these, as we just noted, is Dubai, which has recently attracted so many Russians that its supermarkets have begun offering Russian ice cream.
However, as a few members of the Russian super-rich have recently discovered, even Dubai is not immune to Western sanctions, whether European, American, or British.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some 100 Russian planes have been stranded in Dubai, virtually preventing them from leaving due to Western sanctions that ban them from flying in any other airspace.
During the first three weeks of March, the Russia-UAE connection was 3x busier than pre-pandemic levels, according to WINGX, a website that tracks aerospace (as the chart below shows).
From mid-February to the beginning of April, satellite photographs taken by Earth-imaging company Planet Labs indicate an influx of private jets.
As previously stated, the sanctions have resulted in the seizure of some of Russia’s most valuable assets of oligarchs and billionaires. Gibraltar, for example, confiscated a $75 million superyacht owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Pumpyansky last month. Many of these impounded yachts have caused major problems…not for their owners, but for the marinas where they’ve been parked.
However, there may be a silver lining for the Russians: if they are unable to fly the jet, they can always sell it and invest the money in the rising UAE property market.
One Response
Sorry, but my map says, that is bullshit, on the other side of the gulf is Iran & north of Iran is the Kaspian Sea and north of the Kaspian Sea is Russia, But may be these Oligarcs can’t fly to Swiss & Cote Azur etc pp. nomore. But by the way, Putin is happy to get rid of these guys with some help from the West.