Russia was taken by surprise when it lost 76 passenger planes due to Ukraine invasion sanctions, minister says

• Russia lost 76 passenger planes due to sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine, a Russian minister said.
• He said that that Russia now only has 1,302 planes, of which 1,167 are passenger aircraft.
• Many of Russia's passenger planes were registered abroad and were stranded by sanctions.

Russia lost 76 passenger planes due to sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine, Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said.

"We were unexpectedly taken by surprise by the decision to take away the planes," Savelyev told Russian outlet RBC.

He said the 76 aircraft were either in technical storage, being serviced abroad, or were about to operate flights.