Putin's foreign visits are limited by refuelling hurdles abroad
According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin is facing a problem. The Russian president is cancelling foreign visits not only due to the arrest warrant but also because of issues related to refuelling government aircraft in other countries.
Peskov acknowledged that potential problems in refueling the presidential plane could affect decisions about Putin's foreign visits.
This arises from the fact that even in countries favourable to the Kremlin, companies dealing with aviation fuel often do not belong to that specific country.
Of course, the visits of the head of state are conducted with utmost care, and all necessary guarantees are secured. If questions evidently arise, this may become a reason for discussions at a different level, Peskov said.
Problems for Russian diplomats and the president
Sergey Lavrov experienced in 2023 how challenging it is to travel under Russian diplomatic duties. The foreign minister was one of the Russian representatives at the BRICS meeting in South Africa, and it was then that the refuelling issue first surfaced.
It turned out that all the companies facilitating refuelling were partially owned by countries that had imposed sanctions on Russia, resulting in a refusal to refuel. Similar difficulties were encountered at the BRICS meeting in Brazil, after which Sergey Lavrov had to use his colleague Mauro Vieira's plane.
