De-registered Russian IL-76 Planes, Mi-8 Helicopters Find Their Way to Ukraine

Officials of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (FATA) illegally de-registered 59 aircraft from Russian jurisdiction and sent them to third countries of which two IL-76 transport planes and three Mi-8 helicopters were used by Ukraine in its war with Moscow, Izvestia reported.

Starting in March 2022, these aircraft left Russia under the guise of charter flights only to be sold in “unfriendly” countries;  at least three helicopters were deployed in air defense by Ukraine while two Il-76s delivered cargo with the transponders turned off so that their routes could not be tracked, Izvestia reported quoting unnamed sources.

The resignation in September 2023 of Alexander Neradko, who headed FATA for 14 years is said to be linked this scandal.

The Federal Security Service has opened criminal cases against several FATA employees who are suspected of illegally removing 59 planes and helicopters from Russian jurisdiction after the start of the war.

On February 7 searches were carried out at the central office of the Federal Air Transport Agency on Leningradsky Prospekt in Moscow as part of the investigation into the illegal transfer of planes and helicopters. Documents in the offices of two agency officials: acting Head of the Flight Safety Inspection Department Kristina Byvalina and Deputy Head of the Department of State Registration of Civil Aircraft were seized which confirmed the de-registration of aircraft, according to Izvestia.

Of the 59 aircraft illegally leaving Russian jurisdiction from March 2022 to June 2023, FATA de-registered 36 aircraft due to sales abroad. The buyers of 21 aircraft are residents of states outside the Eurasian Economic Union (part of the former Soviet Bloc) while eight were sold to “unfriendly” countries, the report said.