Canadian judge denies Russian cargo airline sanctions relief

OTTAWA — A Federal Court judge has shot down a plea for sanctions relief from the Russian company that owns the massive cargo plane Canada seized after the start of the Ukraine war. Volga Dnepr Airlines, Russia’s largest air cargo carrier, filed for a judicial review of the federal government’s decision to maintain sanctions on the company and its former chairman. Canada sanctioned the company and seized its Antonov-124 transport plane at Pearson International Airport in 2023.

Arguing it has refused to carry military cargo since 2018, the airline applied to be removed from Canada’s sanctions list in 2023 but was turned down. The Canadian government rejected that argument and stood its ground on the sanctions. In a government memo disclosed in the court filing, Global Affairs Canada said Volga-Dnepr Airlines “played a critical role in supporting the efforts of the Russian regime to bypass sanctions imposed by Canada and its allies to obtain goods that are sanctioned or can be used in sensitive or military related sectors.” In October 2024, then-foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly wrote a letter to the company saying Ottawa would deny its delisting application.

“Materials that I have reviewed show that you have benefited from contracts and subsidies from the Russian government to assist with activities intended to ease or otherwise circumvent the effects of sanctions imposed against Russia by Canada and its partners,” the minister wrote. The airline’s court application said it is “not complicit in any way with Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine” and argued the minister ignored documents it submitted in her decision. But the judge’s ruling said the airline “has not demonstrated the decision was unreasonable or lacked procedural fairness.” The firm’s cargo plane has remained at Pearson for more than four and a half years.

It was grounded when Ottawa closed Canadian airspace to Russian-registered aircraft. The company is attempting to regain control of the cargo plane through an international arbitration process. Its Investor-State Dispute Settlement arbitration is still listed as active.

The company has said that if it can’t recover the aircraft, it will seek some US$100 million in damages. The federal government has sanctioned more than 3,500 organizations and individuals since 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine.