UTair bailout: The Russian government is considering extending financial aid to Siberia’s troubled UTair airline, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said yesterday. Beset by the fall in the value of rouble and Western sanctions, Utair is facing a raft of claims from creditors – including Avialeasing, Alfa-Bank and the airports at Yekaterinburg, Perm, and Samara – for unpaid debts amounting to well over $12m. The airline also recently technically defaulted on the payment on two bonds worth $59m. UTair is in the process of implementing a drastic cost-cutting exercises, and the authorities may be forced to intervene as it provides a socially and economically important transport service to many of Siberia’s more isolated regions, as well as to the oil and gas industries. The Siberian Times