EXCLUSIVE | The mystery jet, the former Russian
first lady and a blonde VIP
News
24 – 11 July 2022
·
A private jet registered in the name of Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of
former prime minister and president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, landed in Cape
Town.
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However, the operators of the Bombardier Global 5000's return flight
were denied fuel by suppliers in Cape Town and were diverted to Lanseria.
·
The purpose of the flight remains a secret, but eyewitnesses spotted a
contingent of bodyguards and an entourage accompanying a stately older woman
with blonde hair.
Mystery surrounds a two-day trip in Cape Town by a
business jet registered in the name of Svetlana Medvedeva, the wife of former
prime minister and president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev.
News24 can reveal the Bombardier Global 5000
private jet had to divert its return flight from Cape Town International
Airport on Wednesday to Lanseria International Airport outside of Johannesburg
because its operators were denied fuel by suppliers in Cape Town.
Medvedeva is a Russian economist, but it is not
known who was on board the flight operated by Russian air charter company
RusJet. The purpose of the flight that arrived in Cape Town on Monday last week
and departed again on Wednesday remains a secret.
The route of
the Bombardier Global 5000 private jet. (Screen grab via Flightradar24)
According to Airports Company of South Africa
(Acsa) operations manager Terence Delomaney, “we do not have any
scheduled Russian aircraft flying into our airports at the moment. Lanseria is
not an Acsa airport. All aircraft will need to ensure arrangements are made in
advance for fuelling. There are various suppliers available - some may apply
sanctions and others not”.
As a commercial airport, Lanseria buys its own fuel
and then sells it forward to all aircraft operators using the airport.
International oil and fuel companies might apply
the same sanctions in their countries of origin instituted against Russia,
which have affected flights from Russia internationally. The same applies to
the European and US airspace, which is closed for Russian air traffic.
According to the website www.airport-data.com,
the private jet is registered in Svetlana Medvedeva's name.
RusJet is a Russian VIP charter company based in
Moscow. According to eyewitnesses at Lanseria, it was obvious there was a very
important person or people on board, judged by the contingent of bodyguards and
the entourage accompanying a stately older woman with blonde hair.
They said there were 14 passengers who disembarked at
Lanseria: the older woman; what seemed to be a private assistant; another two
women who looked after her needs; and four security guards, while the rest were
men in business suits who entered the aircraft just behind the older woman when
they got back into the plane.
The entourage was rushed into the VIP lounge, with
the security guards posted outside while the jet was refuelled.
It was obviously just a fuel stop before the jet
departed late Wednesday afternoon again. According to Flightradar24, the jet arrived
in Cape Town on Monday via Cairo in Egypt. It followed the same route back,
re-routing through Botswana.
The route of
the Bombardier Global 5000 private jet. (Screen grab via Flightradar24)
According to Africa Intelligence, up to March, the
aircraft had been registered in the state of San Marino and is part of Skyline
Aviation's fleet.
According to an investigation by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, “Skyline is a
charter company based in the small Alpine republic, with strong ties to the
Russian elite and currently in liquidation. Its aircraft – including the one
seen in South Africa – regularly flew former Russian prime minister and
president Dmitry Medvedev's wife, Svetlana Medvedeva.
"Skyline has been under US sanctions since 2
June due to its links with Russia,” the publication reported.
It's unclear if the passenger(s) were in South
Africa for government or private business.
International Relations and Cooperation Minister
Naledi Pandor was in Indonesia attending a two-day G20 meeting of foreign
ministers.
Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for the presidency,
referred enquiries to Pandor's department, which did not respond.
The Russian embassy in Pretoria said it had no
information regarding the flight.
The Moscow Times in 2019 reported that “Medvedeva
secretly owns a $50 million Bombardier small business jet that she uses to fly
to Europe and Russian cities”. The claims were made by Alexei Navalny,
opposition leader who survived a poisoning attempt in 2020 and has been
imprisoned since January 2021.
Navalny claimed Medvedeva undertook 11 trips to
various destinations from 2015 to 2019 with the jet which was paid for by the
Russian government. She was described as a socialite who appeared on various
best-dressed lists prior to becoming Russia’s first lady in 2008. She completed
her studies as an economist but gave up her career when she married her
husband.
Medvedev made headlines last week when he invoked
the possibility of nuclear war if the International Criminal Court moves to
punish Moscow for alleged crimes in Ukraine.
Medvedev was President Vladimir Putin's stand-in
president between 2008 and 2012 and now serves as deputy head of the Security
Council of Russia.
Russian
former president Dmitry Medvedev (L) and first wife Svetlana Medvedeva arrive
at the Phipps Conservatory for the G-20 Summit on September 24, 2009 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
The question remains of what urgent business the
aircraft’s passengers were in Cape Town for, for them to undertake a long and
tedious flight to avoid the European skies Russian aircraft are currently
banned from.
Sources in the oil industry told News24 the most
logical explanation would be that it involved Russia’s attempts to find buyers
for its crude oil, which it currently has in abundance, but can’t sell due to
international sanctions.
In recent weeks various news reports speculated
that South Africa has massive crude storage tanks at its facility in Saldanha
which Russia might eye as a possible storing space for its crude. At least two
oil tanker ships from Russia were recently suspected to call at Saldanha, but
when their presence came under the spotlight, the ships both headed around
South Africa towards the United Arab Emirates.
Another source says there are also discussions
underway to source Russian fuel via China or India. With South Africa part of
the BRICS government, it can freely trade with both Russia, China and India,
especially with the fuel crunch the country is currently facing.
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