Source: EU unlikely to slap sanctions on Russia’s Aeroflot

MOSCOW, Nov 12 (PRIME) -- The E.U. is likely to impose sanctions on the airlines that conduct charter flights, not Russian national flagship carrier Aeroflot over the migrant crisis in Belarus, a European Commission source told PRIME late on Thursday.

Bloomberg reported quoting a source familiar with the matter that the E.U. was discussing sanctions on several foreign airlines, including Aeroflot and Turkish Airlines, over the migrant crisis on the border of Belarus and Poland. Aeroflot denied any involvement in transportation of migrants.

“It is most likely that the E.U. would not impose sanctions on the airlines like Turkish Airlines and Aeroflot, it will likely sanction airline operators that collect orders and fly charter flights from the regions from which migrants come,” the source said.

Previously, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk refused to hold the flow of migrants and refugees to the E.U. any longer for the lack of funds because of the sanctions imposed by the West. Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland registered an increase of detains of illegal migrants at their borders with Belarus, and Poland even had to introduce an emergency regime at its border.

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