Emirates Will Continue To Fly To Russia Until Dubai Tells It To Stop

Emirates will continue flying to Russia as long as its owner — the government of Dubai — tells it to, the carrier's President said, Huileng Tan reported for Business Insider.

Photo Insert: Emirates is one of the few airlines still serving Russia after major carriers pulled out of the country amid sweeping sanctions.

"As long as the state, our owner, requires us to fly there, we will continue," President Tim Clark told the World Government Summit, Reuters also reported.

"We carry humanitarian goods in our holds. We've got NGOs traveling in and out of Russia. We've got the diplomatic community going in and out of Russia... so all we're doing is being an enabler, facilitator, without taking a political position on this for the time being," said Clark, according to Reuters.

Emirates is one of the few airlines still serving Russia after major carriers pulled out of the country amid sweeping sanctions over the Ukraine war. Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates, which hasn't condemned Russia for the war in Ukraine or imposed sanctions against the country.

Clark told reporters at the summit in Dubai that Emirates prohibits sanctioned goods on its planes. When it comes to sanctioned individuals, Clark said he wasn't "in a position to say who or what about sanctioned individuals. (They) are sanctioned by the West, they may not be sanctioned here," Reuters reported.

In a separate interview on Tuesday, Clark told Bloomberg TV the Russian people are also heavily impacted by sanctions.

"These sanctions are not aimed at the Russian people," Clark told Bloomberg. "The Russian people are just as affected by what's been going on in Ukraine as everyone else, I suspect."

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