Organized air travel between the Russian Federation and occupied Crimea: former Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation sentenced in absentia
Kyiv • UNN
Former Russian Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for organizing illegal air travel to occupied Crimea. He also ensured the movement of Russian military equipment.
In Ukraine, a former Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation has been brought to criminal responsibility. This refers to Vitaly Savelyev, who, despite Ukraine closing its air points, deliberately organized illegal air traffic between the Russian Federation and occupied Crimea. UNN writes this with reference to the press service of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Details
The Office of the Prosecutor General continues to document war crimes of the Russian Federation. Representatives of the political and military leadership of Russia are being held accountable.
Recently, with the public prosecution maintained by the prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the court found the former Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation guilty. This refers to Vitaly Savelyev. The court sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and a ban on holding positions related to the performance of state or local government functions for a period of three years.
Context
In the last decade, while heading the airline "Aeroflot", Savelyev, despite Ukraine's official closure of air checkpoints, organized illegal air traffic between Russia and occupied Crimea.
At his initiative, regular flights between the Russian Federation and the peninsula were carried out since March 2014.
After being appointed Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation in November 2020, the Russian official deliberately ensured the movement of military equipment and personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation towards the state border of Ukraine, as well as to the territory of Belarus and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Recall
In December 2024, it became known that the head of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Volodin, was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison, the Security Service of Ukraine reported.
In Iraq, a man was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking after he recruited Iraqis to fight on Russia's side against Ukraine.
The director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, Arkady Gostev, received a 10-year prison sentence in absentia. He was found guilty of organizing a network of torture chambers on the left bank of the Kherson region, where resistance movement participants were imprisoned.