Russia’s federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia argues that the ICAO Council needs reform to reduce political influence, after Russia failed to regain its place during a vote at the ICAO triennial Assembly.
The Council, which has 36 members, is elected through three rounds of voting. The first round comprises candidates from countries of primary importance to civil aviation, while the second features candidates from countries making the largest contribution to provision of facilities.
Once these first two rounds are complete, a third round is held later to ensure all the major geographical regions are represented.
Election requires a simple majority from the voting states. This year’s election involved 184 states.
But Russia, one of 11 candidates for the first round, secured only 87 votes. It was the only state to fall short, with the remaining 10 elected with between 154 and 167 votes. Brazil, China and Japan received the strongest support.
While not on the original candidate ballot for the second round, Russia exercised its right to put itself forward, having missed out on the first-round election, but again performed poorly with only 62 votes from a potential 184. Singapore and Saudi Arabia had the greatest backing.
Russia appears as a candidate for the third-round vote, which takes place on 30 September.
Rosaviatsia highlights the support Russia obtained during the primary round. While the ballot is secret, it claims to have received votes in favour from the BRICS countries, as well as the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, and states in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Russia lost its Council place during the previous Assembly in 2022, a few months after the Ukrainian conflict began.
Representatives of Russia submitted a statement to this year’s convention expressing “extreme concern and dismay”, claiming that “dangerous trends at work” were “threatening the very existence of ICAO as a forum of the international aviation community”.
While ICAO had been founded on “noble goals and objectives”, it says, “double standards” are being propagated in the work of its constituent bodies – and that groups of countries are exploiting ICAO activities to “punish out-of-favour states”.
Rosaviatsia argues that there is a “pressing need to reform the ICAO Council” in order to “prevent its further political monopolisation”, adding that Russia’s exclusion “undermines” the organisation’s credibility and effectiveness.
It does not refer to the Ukrainian conflict in its missive, or other matters such as navigation satellite jamming or the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, but simply claims that the election results indicate a “significant portion” of the international community “rejects attempts to use organisations like ICAO as a tool for achieving the national goals of individual states”.
