Canada will transfer the An-124 Ruslan aircraft confiscated from the Russian Federation to Ukraine as part of Canada's new sanctions against Russian enterprises. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced this on his Facebook page.
“A new package of sanctions against Russia from Canada. In particular, against the Volga-Dnepr company. We are preparing to confiscate the An-124 aircraft and other assets of the aggressor in Canada and transfer them to Ukraine,” Shmyhal wrote.
In March 2022, the Svyatoshinsky District Court of Kiev arrested twelve An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft of the Russian airline Volga-Dnepr. Three of them were banned from flying out of Germany, one from Canada. Work was reported to be ongoing on arrests in other jurisdictions.
By a court decision, the planes were to be transferred to the National Agency for the Detection, Search and Management of Assets Obtained from Corruption and Other Crimes.
According to the Russianplanes portal, a total of 55 An-124 Ruslan aircraft were built in Russia. Of these, about 10 remained with civil airlines, 12 - with the Russian Aerospace Forces.