Fraport to rethink Russian airport stake if it’s used against Ukraine

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German airport operator Fraport said on Monday it would reconsider its stake in St. Petersburg Pulkovo if the airport was targeted by western sanctions or if there was evidence it was being used by Russia to wage war against Ukraine.

Fraport has said it was bound by a contract that did not allow it to sell the stake until 2025, and it did not want to give up the asset worth 160 million euros ($168.11 million) to Russia.

“But if there’s evidence Pulkovo is being used for the war in Ukraine, we will have a new situation. This may also apply in case of new sanctions,” said Michael Boddenberg, Fraport’s chairman and the finance minister of the German state of Hesse.

“We are therefore assessing the situation day by day,” Boddenberg said in a statement after an extraordinary supervisory board meeting he had called over Fraport’s assets in Russia.

There is still no indication of Russian military flights from Pulkovo, Fraport Chief Executive Stefan Schulte said in the same statement.

($1 = 0.9517 euros)

(Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska; editing by Joseph Nasr)