Ukraine has started legal proceedings that will enable it to take ownership of An-124-100s owned by Russia's Volga-Dnepr Airlines (VI, Ulyanovsk Vostochny) from jurisdictions where they have been confiscated, head of Ukraine’s Asset Management and Recovery Agency (AMRA) Elena Duma said in a Telegram post.
AMRA, which will become the new manager of the aircraft in accordance with a previous court decision, sent a request for its legalization to the Office of the Prosecutor General under Article 545 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The move comes after authorities in Ukraine developed a plan to transport the aircraft from storage locations in Canada and Germany.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ fleet comprises nine An-124-100s, one An-124-100-150, and five Il-76TD-90VDs. Out of the nine An-124-100s, only two are active. According to ch-aviation fleets, three are stored at Leipzig/Halle, one at Ulyanovsk Vostochny, one at Dubai World Central, one at Toronto Pearson, and one at Moscow Sheremetyevo.
Ukraine’s Antonov Design Bureau initiated criminal proceedings in 2022, which led a court in Kyiv to decide that twelve freighters owned by the Russian cargo specialist, all An-124-100s, should be seized. According to Antonov’s legal counsel, Ilyashev and Partners, Volga-Dnepr had been issuing its own airworthiness certificates in “flagrant violation of the provisions of international conventions.”
However, the movement depended at the time on local authorities' decisions regarding the seized aircraft, which meant in practice that three aircraft were prohibited from leaving Germany and one was not allowed to leave Canada due to local regulations linked to Russia sanctions.
As previously reported by ch-aviation, legal proceedings in Canada have started and Ottawa is planning on sending the stranded RA-82078 (msn 9773054559153) as military aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Russian airline has been attempting to repatriate its aircraft from Canada and has started an investment arbitration proceeding at the ICC International Court of Arbitration.
