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Russia loses its seat on the ICAO Permanent Council

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Russia on Saturday failed to secure enough votes to be re-elected to the governing council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in a rebuke to Moscow over aviation-related measures taken following its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia fell short of the required 86 votes, during the body’s assembly, which runs through Oct. 7 in Montreal, Reuters reported.

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The voting results set off a procedural review on Saturday, after a challenge by Russia for an additional vote. Poppy Khoza, assembly president and South Africa’s director general of civil aviation, called the circumstances “unprecedented.”

“When we have votes in our countries, if we don’t like the result, we don’t ask for another vote,” the French representative told the assembly.

Russia, along with the G7, China, Brazil and Australia, held spots as “states of chief importance in air transport” on ICAO’s 36-member council.

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“We’d like to express regret regarding the outcome of the voting,” the Russian representative said. “We view this as a purely political step and has nothing to do with Russia’s position in the field of civil aviation.”

The vote holds Russia to account for violating Ukraine’s sovereign airspace, like bombing airports, that go against a key 1944 agreement that sets out core principles for global aviation, argued Yuliya Kovaliv, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada.

The West also says Russia has illegally confiscated hundreds of foreign jets, a charge Moscow denies.

The 193-nation ICAO assembly, held every three years, is the first since the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war.

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