Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Russia Prof. Janitha Abeywickrema told NewsWave today (04) that the Russian government had summoned ger to the Foreign Ministry and informed her of their displeasure to Sri Lanka over the detention of an Aeroflot aircraft at the Katunayake International Airport premises on a court order.
The crisis has been caused by the detention of Russian planes on a court order despite an agreement not to detain any Russian airplane when they arrive in Sri Lanka.
Aeroflot, which arrived in Sri Lanka from Russia on June 2, was carrying about 250 Russian tourists. Russian national carrier Aeroflot operates direct flights to Katunayake Airport every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and this incident was caused due to a situation that has arisen with regard to the aircraft’s insurance.
Russia had previously insured aircrafts with an Irish insurance company, and in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia war, the insurance premiums were suspended and reinsured by a Russian insurance company.
Accordingly, the relevant Irish insurance company has lodged a complaint with the Colombo Commercial High Court regarding the suspension of premiums. The court has issued an enjoining order in this regard.
The detained aircraft is a Russian Aeroflot flight SU288 which was scheduled to arrive at Katunayake Airport from Moscow, Russia at 10.10 am on June 2 and return to Moscow at 12.50 pm from Katunayake.
According to unofficial sources, representatives of the Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka has also met President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in this regard. It is unknown at this time that the detaining order was issued to suspend the flying of the airplane or regarding the nonpayment of insurance premiums.
