Putin's travel plans grounded by refuelling woes abroad
As Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reported, Vladimir Putin has a problem. The Russian president is cancelling foreign visits not only due to the arrest warrant but also because of issues related to refuelling government aircraft in other countries.
Peskov admitted that potential problems with refuelling the presidential plane could influence decisions about Putin's foreign visits.
This arises from the fact that even in countries favourable to the Kremlin, companies involved in refuelling aviation fuel often do not belong to that particular country.
Of course, the visits of the head of state are carried out as carefully as possible, and all necessary guarantees are obtained. If questions obviously arise, this may become a reason for contacts at a different level – Peskov said.
Problems for Russian diplomats and the president
Sergey Lavrov realised in 2023 how challenging it is to travel under the banner of Russian diplomacy. The foreign minister was one of the Russian representatives at the BRICS meeting in South Africa, and it was at that time that the issue of refuelling first emerged.
As it turned out, all the companies enabling refuelling were partially owned by countries that had imposed sanctions on Russia and did not agree to the refuelling. Similar difficulties occurred at the BRICS meeting in Brazil, after which Sergey Lavrov had to use his colleague Mauro Vieira's plane.
