Russian airlines fly on despite safety concerns

Airliners in Russia are said to be operating with expired safety equipment, according to reports from the country’s aviation watchdog. Viktor Basargin, head of Federal Service for Supervision of Transport, Rostransnadzor, told a Russian parliamentary committee in mid-May that international sanctions imposed on the country in response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine meant some carriers are now unable to replace out-of-date equipment. He is quoted by the Kommersant newspaper as saying: “Several hundred unscheduled inspections of airlines [...] showed