This was stated on air by Maksym Hardus, communications specialist at Razom We Stand.“BELAVIA is a small airline on a global scale, though the largest in Belarus. Before the war it had 30 aircraft, which is already very few. For Belarus, aviation is not essential for domestic connections. Sanctions against BELAVIA were not linked to the war in Ukraine but to the brutal repression of protests following Belarus’ 2020 elections. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, no new sanctions were imposed on BELAVIA since they were already in place. The sanctions hit hard: only half the fleet remains, 16 out of 30 planes,” Hardus explained.Of these 16 aircraft, 8 are Boeings that have not been properly serviced and are in poor condition, as spare parts have been supplied clandestinely and through contraband. BELAVIA’s director even admitted in an interview that the company now relies on such schemes to import components. This, Hardus noted, makes the company open to smuggling — and possibly tempted to re-export valuable U.S. spare parts to Russia at huge markups.“Belarus and Russia are tied by economic and legal frameworks — the CIS, Eurasian Economic Union, Customs Union, and their Union State. Their border and customs controls are largely symbolic. For Russia, aviation is much more critical: it’s a huge country, and Russian airlines operate about 165 Boeings. During the war, these planes have fallen into disrepair. Russians practice ‘cannibalism,’ dismantling some aircraft to repair others. The federal budget poured $12 billion into saving Russian aviation, but safety remains dire. In 2024 alone, 208 incidents were recorded. With 165 Boeings needing U.S. parts, can Lukashenko and BELAVIA’s leadership resist the temptation to buy in the U.S. and resell to Russia? Obviously not,” Hardus concluded.On September 11, U.S. presidential envoy John Coale met with self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko and announced that Washington was lifting sanctions on BELAVIA.