Russia loses seat on UN Aviation Agency’s Governing Council; issues response
Several of US allies and partners have accused Russia of illegally confiscating the aircraft after it closed its airspace to airlines in response to sanctions.
Russia on Saturday lost its place on the UN aviation agency’s governing council as it did not receive enough votes from the countries that have been strong critics of the regime of the Russian Federation over its invasion of Ukraine. UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a 36-nation governing council that is holding an assembly through Oct. 7 in Montreal, Canada. The voting is conducted every three years.
Several of the US’ allies and partners have accused Russia of illegally confiscating the aircraft after it closed its airspace to airlines in response to the Western sanctions. Moscow has barred over 36 countries, including all 27 members of the European Union from using its airspace.
Ahead of the votes, Adina Valean, the European Union’s transport commissioner, told agencies that Russia shall no longer hold a seat on ICAO’s governing council. He stressed that Moscow has violated the 1944 treaty that led to the formation of the ICAO and defined laws around international aviation.
“We cannot accept that a member, breaching so clearly the Chicago Convention, sits in the very council that should act as its guardian,” Valean reportedly said. “This is not about politics. It is about the fundamentals of this organisation,” she told the assembly.
Situation was ‘unprecedented’: Assembly’s president
Assembly’s president and South Africa’s director general of civil aviation, Poppy Khoza, said that the situation was “unprecedented.” Both Canada and Europe had clarified that they would not vote for Russia’s re-election to the council ahead of the votes. Moscow has been a member of ICAO’s premier tier of the council, or nations of “chief importance in air transport.”
The countries that qualified for phase one of the voting were the US, Canada, China, Germany and Brazil. The second phase of the voting also took place on Saturday. Members that participated are among the biggest contributors to the facilities for air travel worldwide. Phase three is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, next week.
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In its response to losing the seat, the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya) said Saturday that Russia still remains a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and hence will continue its contribution to the air travel provisions. “Russia remains a member of ICAO and continues its work within the organisation.
At the elections to the ICAO Council, Russia received the support of 80 member states of the organisation (the required minimum being 86). This prevented Russia from being elected to the Council in the first group of ICAO states,” Rosaviatsiya, in its statement, said.
