A top Russian official said on Thursday that China refused to support Russia with aircraft parts as Russia looks to source components following tough aviation sanctions.

Valery Kudinov, head of the Aircraft Airworthiness Department at the Federal Air Transport Agency, said on Thursday that there were around 70 aircraft in the Russian register before the end of February, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Kudinov said the situation with maintenance of aircraft and imports of spare parts is planned to be resolved, including through the re-export of components, TASS reported. 

Quoted in TASS, Kudinov said: “As far as I know … China refused,” adding that the search would continue through other countries, possibly through Turkey or India. "Each company will negotiate on its own," Kudinov added.

The world’s two biggest plane manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, have both halted supply of aircraft components to Russian airlines.