Vision Airlines - US Government flies Russian spies in style

While US and Russian spies were being swapped on a tarmac, the U.S.A. was represented by a private charter jet. The business of Vision Airlines is usually vacation travel, however they got the contract for this flight. You will find some politicians asking why a private company was used for government business.

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Spies swapped using Vision Airlines

This morning, a Vision Airlines jet met up with a Russian Emergency Ministry Jet in Vienna. Ten accused Russian agents got on the Russian plane while four “Western Sympathizers” got on the Vision Airlines jet. The biggest post-Cold War era spy drama was hopefully over once both planes took off.

How Vision Airlines got the job

The decision to send the Russian agents back home and bring the American agents back to the U.S. on a luxury charter jet is an interesting one. An official Russian plane was used for the transfer. What exactly were US officials thinking with this choice? Or were all the accessible planes already taken? It is possible that both the United States and Russia agreed to not use military planes, just in case. No matter why, using a luxury charter jet is an intriguing choice. No word on if the several thousand dollar flight fee was donated, or if the bill is going to the government. Vision Airlines is certainly getting attention for the choice – their website has crashed multiple times today.

Keeping tepid relations going

According to Rahm Emanuel’s discussion with PBS’s “NewsHour,” the President was “briefed” on the spy swap decision. The choice to use Vision Airlines rather than military planes, to not make announcements, and to keep the spy swap as low profile as they could all point to a desire to not start a fight. Both countries have said that they really want to try and “warm up” relations.