Russia has recently announced its decision to stop its provision of the transport aircraft An-124 "Ruslan" to Germany by the end of 2018, Telepolis reported.
The move is likely to be related to the recently introduced sanctions against Moscow and poses a serious challenge to Bundeswehr, as the latter has been using the planes in NATO missions for transport purposes.
The aircraft come from Ukraine and Russia and have been used under a lease deal. However, in 2017 agreements with Ukraine and Russia were split after the Ukrainian "Antonov" company stopped working with the Russian company "Volga-Dnepr" amid the Ukrainian crisis. Kiev wanted to take on most of the contracts, but Moscow offered a lower price.
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The media outlet argued that Western sanctions have not encouraged Russia to further play the role of logistics provider for the Bundeswehr, which is why Moscow has decided to terminate the agreement by the end of the year.
The collaborative project has been called SALIS (Strategic Airlift International Solution), with Germany being the largest recipient, followed by Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The aircraft has often been used in remote operational areas such as Afghanistan in Central Asia and Mali in West Africa to transport armored vehicles and heavy equipment, among other things.
