THE HAGUE - Aruba has "taken measures" in the context of the sanctions announced by the European Union against Russia and Russian businessmen regarding aircraft registered in the Aruban aviation register.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra mentions this in the letter he sent to Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament today about the implementation of the sanctions package by the countries of the Kingdom, including the Caribbean Netherlands.
The Minister indicates that according to the information available to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, there are no aircraft on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (the BES islands) that can be linked to the persons and/or entities on the sanction list. The airspace of the BES islands will be closed to Russian aircraft from February 27, 2022. At the beginning of March 2022, Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten (the CAS countries) imposed a flight ban for Russian aircraft and closed the airspace for these aircraft, similar to the European sanctions.
Regarding the CAS islands, neither the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have legal powers. That is why there was only collegial contact with the various stakeholders. Curaçao and Sint Maarten have a relatively small joint aircraft register (about 25 aircraft). The aircraft are mainly used for air traffic between the Caribbean parts of the kingdom. The aircraft that are registered in the register of Curaçao and Sint Maarten do not have a Russian owner or holder.
The Aruban Ministry of Transport has looked at nine aircraft registered in their aircraft register that have a possible connection with Russia. None of the planes are in Aruba. Measures have been taken regarding six aircraft while further investigation is being conducted into three aircraft. A flight ban has been imposed on two aircraft that do not have a Russian owner, but which were in Russia at the time of the introduction of the measures, in connection with flight safety. Another aircraft that is also in Russia and has a Russian owner (who is not on the EU sanctions lists by the way) has been banned from flying for the same reason. Finally, two other aircraft currently in Russia and owned by non-EU-sanctioned Russian owners have been officially removed from the register because the owners have indicated that they have no intention of physically removing the aircraft from Russia in the near future.
The minister says that inquiries with the BES islands show that there are currently no ships belonging to persons or entities on the sanction list in the ports and/or waters of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba respectively. The Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management has sent an action plan to the harbor masters on the BES islands with which they can keep ships out of the ports. There is proactive contact with the harbor masters of the BES islands, who as such fall under the responsibility of the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management. The CAS countries are themselves responsible for compliance with the sanctions. Information is proactively exchanged on a collegial basis, for example about the ownership of certain ships that (want to) come to the ports. This will be expanded in the coming weeks. During meetings of the Kingdom Maritime Administration at the end of March in Willemstad (Curaçao) this was discussed with the responsible authorities. Now there are no ships of persons or entities on the sanction list that are in the ports and/or waters of Aruba, Curaçao or St. Maarten respectively.