Airbus has been granted a waiver by the Canadian government, allowing it to continue using Russian titanium after Ottawa became the first Western nation to ban the metal in its latest package of sanctions targeting the Kremlin, Reuters reported on April 23.
Airbus – one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial passenger jets – was concerned the sanctions meant an effective ban on the import of its Europe-made jets which rely on lightweight titanium for their construction.
"Airbus is aware of the Canadian government imposing sanctions on VSMPO and has obtained the necessary authorization to secure Airbus operations in compliance with the applicable sanctions," Airbus Canada told Reuters.
Despite multiple and heavy sanctions from Western nations against Russian materials and products, many countries are still heavily dependent on the titanium it produces.
The world’s largest titanium deposit is located in the Komi Republic in northern Russia.
A recent report from the Washington Post highlighted that the Russian titanium firm VSMPO-AVISMA "has not been placed under sanctions by the United States or the European Union despite being partly owned by Rostec, a defense conglomerate that owns hundreds of companies and is under U.S. and European sanctions."
"Rostec is led by an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sergey Chemezov, who has been personally sanctioned since the annexation of Crimea in 2014," it added.
Chris York
