Members of Russia's business elite are flying in Canadian-made luxury planes that were imported after sanctions targeting the country's aviation sector came into place, CBC's visual investigations unit has found.

Russian import records obtained by CBC News show 34 business jets and commercial aircraft built in Canada and sold on the secondary market have ended up in Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Those records, as well as flight data, aviation industry documents and leaked border-crossing information, reveal that sanctioned oligarch Igor Kesaev imported a Bombardier business jet in July 2023. Another jet arrived in March 2024 via a company majority-owned by another oligarch, Sergey Shishkarev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Other jets were imported by Ru

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