More than 70 Russian airline jets remained abroad after sanctions were imposed, Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said at a meeting of the State Duma (lower house) Committee on Transport and Development of Transport Infrastructure on Wednesday.

"Many air carriers decided to give up aircraft [after the introduction of Western sanctions], unfortunately. As a result, we lost 75 jets, of which around a quarter <…> remained [abroad]. So that’s 75 jets lost," he said.

Some 1,297 jets are currently employed in Russia, of which 1,167 are passenger aircraft, the minister added.