The head of the Russian-based Ural Airlines has been served with notification of suspicion of aiding the Russian Federation’s senior leadership and the Russian Armed Forces in the waging of a war of aggression against Ukraine (Section 5 of Article 27 and Section 2 of Article 437 of the Ukrainian Penal Code).
The Office of the Prosecutor General announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
According to investigators, the head of the airline company “took advantage of his official position to ensure that his subordinates performed the task of timely and unhindered transportation of military personnel in accordance with instructions from the Russian Federation’s senior leadership, the Russian Armed Forces, and the Russian Ministry of Transport.”
According to the statement, the head of the airline “issued the relevant instructions, for the fulfillment of which the company's civil aircraft were used.”
They transported people mobilized into the Russian Armed Forces, their weapons and ammunition, and their personal belongings for training and subsequent participation in the war of aggression against Ukraine, the statement said.
According to the statement, civilian planes belonging to the suspect's airline have been flying to the closed international airports of Platov (Rostov-on-Don) and Simferopol (Crimea) from October 2023 to the present.
The Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is conducting the relevant pre-trial investigation under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General. The SBU’s Department for Protection of National Statehood is providing operational support.
