By Chris Bailey
This was a year in which it was pretty obvious what person TIME magazine would tap as Person of the Year: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. No matter what you think of the American involvement in the war, I think we have to give kudos to President Zelensky for standing with his people in an epic fight to defend his homeland.
In February, Russian tanks rolled across the border into his country for what many feared would be a quick and ugly rout. Moscow immediately began ruthlessly and illegally killing civilians and targeting schools and hospitals with artillery fire. Zelensky has been leading the fight to force the Russians to withdraw since day one. His display of leadership has inspired his people and freedom-loving people everywhere throughout this crisis and is something to behold. We owe it to him to heed his valuable advice about how we can best be of help to him and his people.
In May, Zelensky demanded “maximum sanctions” against Russia. While speaking in a virtual appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelensky said “This is what sanctions should be: They should be maximum, so that Russia and every other potential aggressor that wants to wage a brutal war against its neighbor would clearly know the immediate consequences of their actions,
Most of Europe agrees. The EU is imposing ever-more-stringent economic sanctions. In December, Reuters reported that “Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it favoured new sanctions against three additional Russian banks and new export controls and restrictions, especially for dual-use goods like key chemicals, nerve agents, electronics and IT components.” It will be the ninth round of sanctions imposed against Russia.
But until recently, there was a very notable holdout. European aerospace company Airbus, which makes many weapons systems for EU nations, strongly opposed sanctions against Russian titanium and for nearly a year refused to join their fellow Western corporations in cutting Putin off.
“We don’t think sanctions on imports will be appropriate,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told stockholders in April. “This will be a small impact on Russia, and would have large consequences on the rest of the countries and the industry. So we think the no-sanction policy actually is the most meaningful one.” (Faury, needless to say, wasn’t a candidate for Person of the Year!).
Airbus imports titanium because it is rare and key to aircraft construction. It is light, strong, and flexible, and for a long time the company got most of its titanium from Russia.
But the point of sanctions is that they will be difficult on both sides: the side that is being punished (Russia) and the side that is applying the punishment (the rest of us). Just ask anyone who is shivering in Germany, which is agreeing to embargo Russian natural gas. Sanctions hurt. But in the long run, sanctions help, because they force aggressors like Russia to call off the dogs of war.
Earlier this month, Aviation Week reported, “Airbus will cease procuring titanium from Russian suppliers in what is now a matter of months, according to Michael Schoellhorn, Airbus Defence and Space CEO.” That is great, but it comes very late in the game and isn’t even a complete ban. “Airbus is still procuring an unspecified percentage of Russian titanium,” Aviation Week adds.
This shouldn’t have been difficult. As early as February, the EU imposed: “A prohibition on the sale, supply, transfer or export, of specific goods and technology, listed in the Regulation, suited for use in aviation or space industry, to Russia or for use in Russia.”
Those sanctions should have gone the other way as well. They should be seen as banning companies from buying such military-related items, including titanium, from Russia. The money Airbus sent to Russia for titanium can be invested in weapons that are sent to take lives and territory from Ukraine. The least that a military contractor can do is support the governments that fund it.
Add in the recent news that Airbus was just hit with a $16 million fine to settle a French corruption probe and the picture Airbus has painted is not a good one. This resolves a prior probe that resulted in a deal that hit Airbus with a 3.6 billion euro fine paid to France, the U.S., and Brittan for allegations of sales to Libya and Kazakhstan over a decade ago, so it appears Airbus has resisted sanctions against regimes well before the current Russian controversy.
Airbus has already given far too much aid and comfort to the Russian side in this war. Even if it is onside now, what took them so long? Western governments shouldn’t forget that the company is anything but a reliable partner.
Chris Bailey is a suburban Atlanta-based freelance writer and activist.