For the second time in a row, Russia was not elected to the governing body of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), whose session is taking place in Montreal, Reuters reports.
As follows from a photo of the voting results released by Nigeria’s aviation minister Festus Keyamo, Russia received 62 votes out of 185 possible – that is, significantly less than half. Thus, Russia was not among the 36 countries that will be represented in the ICAO Council in the next three years.
The USSR, and later Russia, had always been on the council until 2022, but in 2022 Russia was not elected for the first time due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Ahead of the ICAO session in Montreal, Reuters reported, citing draft documents, that Moscow had asked the organisation to help ease sanctions imposed on the Russian aviation industry over the invasion of Ukraine. As the agency reported, Russia pointed out that the sanctions lead to a shortage of spare parts for aircraft operated in Russia, and this has a negative impact on the safety of civilian transport, among other things.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed the existence of the request, noting that Russia was not “asking” but “demanding” that ICAO “force individual member states to stop violating the norms of international law, in particular the UN charter and the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation.” There have been no reports yet on whether the session has considered the Russian request or demand.