Almost 80 planes of Russian airlines have been detained abroad because of the anti-Russian sanctions, the head of the Russian Ministry of Transport Vitaly Savelyev said, Interfax reported.

"We had a total of 1,367,000 planes in the country (before the sanctions). We lost 78 machines, they were detained," Savelyev said during a meeting of the Federation Council committee on economic policy. The planes were detained in the friendly countries of Russia - Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia, he said.

According to Savelyev, Russia is trying to negotiate with Western leasing companies to buy the planes back, but they are not negotiating. Under these conditions, Russia started transferring the aircraft fleet to the Russian registry. "We have already transferred (to the Russian registry) almost 800 machines, we insure them in Russian reinsurance companies, under the Central Bank. We are looking for legal ways to negotiate with lessors and resolve this issue, but so far we have not succeeded," Savelyev said.