German firm owns stake in Russian airport used in war against Ukraine: report
Wesprzyj naszą pracę na Go Fund Me. Dziękujemy!German company Fraport AG holds a stake in Russia’s Pulkovo Airport, which is used by military aircraft in the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a Polish website.
Pulkovo Airport near St. Petersburg, Russia.Dmitry Avdeev, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL 1.2, via Wikimedia Commons
Fraport’s major shareholders include the central German state of Hesse (30 percent), the central German city of Frankfurt (20 percent) and a Frankfurt energy company (20 percent), Poland’s biznesalert.pl website reported.
In 2010, the Russian government granted Fraport a 30-year licence for shares in Pulkovo and a permit to carry out construction projects at the airport near St. Petersburg, according to the Polish website.
Originally a civilian airport, Pulkovo is now also used by Russian army aircraft taking part in the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February last year, biznesalert.pl reported.
In May, a plane carrying supplies for Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries fighting in Ukraine took off from Pulkovo, biznesalert.pl reported, citing an investigation by German broadcasters Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NRD) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WRD), and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Satellite images show that a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber landed at Pulkovo on March 5, biznesalert.pl reported, citing Germany’s Tagesschau TV news programme.
Fraport says it cannot sell stake in Pulkovo before 2025
In March last year, Fraport said in a statement it did not take any responsibility for the activity of the Pulkovo airport.
It added that the Pulkovo Airport Management Company, in which it has a minority stake, “does not have any influence over what type of aircraft traffic is taking place at the Pulkovo airport.”
The company said such decisions were the responsibility of the Russian government, adding it had “suspended its activities related to shares in Pulkovo,” according to biznesalert.pl.
This wording likely means that Fraport isn’t making any profits, or incurring any losses, from its shares in the Russian airport, biznesalert.pl reported.
At the same time, for contractual reasons, Fraport cannot sell its stake in Pulkovo before 2025, the company said last year, according to the Reuters news agency.
The German company owns or part-owns 28 airports around the world, according to biznesalert.pl.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm/gs)
Source: biznesalert.pl, Reuters
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