Russians fly private planes to Moscow via Lithuanian airports – LRT Investigation

In early April, a private aircraft was allowed to fly from Kaunas to Pskov. This is the third private aircraft to fly from Lithuania to Russia this year. Data gathered by the LRT Investigation Team show that Lithuanian airspace is being used to bring aircraft from Europe to Russia.

The possible sanctions circumvention scheme has involved a Lithuanian pilot and a Kazakh-Russian man running a business in Lithuania. Lithuania’s Transport and Communications Ministry says the situation is regrettable and has asked the EU institutions to tighten sanctions control.

At the beginning of April, the LRT Investigations Team reported on the Russian citizen’s attempts to smuggle a private Cessna 172 plane to Pskov via Palanga. This possible sanctions evasion scheme is currently being investigated by the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT).

While the investigation is ongoing, the plane, which arrived from Denmark via Sweden, remains detained at Palanga Airport. However, data gathered by the LRT Investigation Team shows that another plane took off from Kaunas to fly to Pskov a few weeks ago and is currently being resold in Moscow.

The plane was flown by a Lithuanian pilot and a Lithuanian businessman was involved.

From Madrid to Moscow via Lithuania

On April 2, a few weeks after a plane trying to fly to Pskov was intercepted in Palanga, another plane – a private Beechcraft B24R Sierra – successfully flew from Lithuania to the same Russian airport.

It flew from Spain to Poland, arriving at Aleksotas Airport on March 31. It then flew to Kaunas Airport, from where it took off to Pskov Airport.

Information gathered by the LRT Investigation Team shows that the plane was sold in Spain. The seller was the Latvian company Fly Sky. The aircraft bears not only the Latvia flag but also the name of another company – FlyUp Academy, a pilot training academy registered in Madrid, which has used the aircraft until recently.

Both Latvian and Spanish companies have Lithuanian links. The sole shareholder of the Latvian Fly Sky is Aviaserviso Grupė, registered in Vilnius. CEO of Fly Sky Stanislovas Košys was also the CEO of the Spanish FlyUp Academy until April 2021.

Meanwhile, the Beechcraft Sierra aircraft that flew from Kaunas Airport to Pskov is already in Moscow. On April 7, an advertisement appeared on a Russian website:

“ATTENTION, this aircraft is in Russia since April 4, 2023! Beechcraft B24R Sierra 200. A very good plane! It has been completely overhauled in Spain. [...] The plane is in excellent condition, currently registered in the Russian Federation, we will issue all the necessary documents to fly in Russia.”

In Moscow, the plane is on sale for 138,000 euros. In Spain, it was sold for 37,000 euros.

The LRT Investigation Team contacted the sellers of the plane in Moscow. Leonid Sokolov answered the call. According to LRT sources, he was the buyer of the aircraft. Sokolov is a businessman born in Kazakhstan, but, according to the documents, he also holds a Russian passport and has been doing business in Russia since 2016. He also has a residence permit in Lithuania but states that he lives in Moscow on social media.

Speaking to LRT journalists, the businessman said the aircraft is not in Russia but in Kazakhstan:

Were you the buyer of this plane?

This plane is on lease in Kazakhstan.

But you are selling it in Moscow...

Well, no.

How so? I called the number on the ad...

It’s a mistake.

What mistake? There are pictures of this plane in the ad.

We have put it on a rent-to-own lease in Kazakhstan and we will see what happens.

And why is your number listed on the sale ad in Moscow?

It’s not forbidden.

What’s not forbidden? Selling a plane in Russia?

Writing the number. And it’s not for sale in Russia, it’s on Kazakh territory.

Are you sure about that?

We gave the plane to the brokers to rent, maybe they put up an ad. I don’t know why they gave my number.

But the ad says that the plane is in Russia since April 4, that it must be registered in Russia, that the documents are being processed.

I don’t know, I’ll check. And what is your question?

I am asking about the plane.

It’s not clear, maybe the marketing specialist put up this ad. The plane is in Kazakhstan.

Sokolov also denied having Russian citizenship. An hour after this interview, the sale ad was removed from the Russian website.

Lithuanian pilot

The aircraft was flown from Kaunas Airport to Pskov by Lithuanian pilot Robertas Petkus.

The data gathered shows that this pilot was involved not only in the story of the Beechcraft Sierra that ended up in Moscow but also in that of Cessna 172 which was intercepted in Palanga on March 16.

As reported by LRT, the latter, stranded in Palanga, was acquired by a Russian citizen and businessman Evgeny Kabanov through his Turkish company Edermont Ltd. The aircraft, purchased from a Danish aero club, was flown to Pskov via Sweden and Palanga by a Russian citizen with a residence permit in Lithuania.

The flight was brokered by MAK Aviation Services, a company operating in Italy and Russia and owned by Kabanov. The pilot disappeared after the aircraft was intercepted and the Lithuanian Transport Safety Administration (LTSA) launched an investigation.

At that time, Petkus, posing as a representative of MAK Aviation Services, sought to gain access to the aircraft, collect the documents that remained inside, and fly the aircraft from Palanga to Kaunas.

According to LRT sources, the Russian businessman Kabanov assisted Petkus in flying the aircraft from Kaunas to Pskov by drawing up the flight plan. Petkus is also linked to Sokolov, who is selling the aircraft in Russia, through the company Eurotechnikas – the Lithuanian pilot is the company’s director, and the Kazakh-Russian businessman is a shareholder.

Documents acquired by LRT show that Petkus also flew another plane to Russia on May 12 last year. The Cessna 172 aircraft was flown from Tallinn Airport in Estonia to Russia on behalf of Sokolov.

The LRT Investigation Team was unable to reach Petkus by phone, and he has not answered the written questions.

‘No formal breach of sanctions’

The Lithuanian Transport Safety Administration (LTSA) is responsible for the coordination of flight plans and flight clearance, while take-off and landing clearance is granted by the navigation service provider Oro Navigacija, which is also responsible for airspace control.

According to LTSA, the flight from Kaunas Airport to Pskov did not require a special permit as it was a non-commercial flight, while the aircraft was private. Moreover, the aircraft was still registered in Latvia.

Whether the flight to Pskov violated sanctions is still under investigation, as it is being verified whether the flight was chartered or controlled by Russian citizens or companies.

“The fact that Robertas Petkus, who may have links to Russia, piloted the plane suggests that sanctions may have been violated. The final conclusion should be made by the law enforcement authorities that are currently conducting an investigation,” LTSA said in a written reply.

According to LTSA, it also contacted the EU institutions asking to strengthen the sanctions control mechanism.

"We have informed the civil aviation sanctioning authorities of all EU countries and the European Commission’s Civil Aviation Sanctions Group about both cases, warned them about possible schemes, and asked them to scrutinise such cases closely and share relevant information,” LTSA said.

“We have also written to EUROCONTROL (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation). We suggested that additional mechanisms be considered to prevent sanctions circumvention during the flight plan approval phase,” it added.

This is the third private plane to fly from Lithuania to Russia this year. Aircraft were allowed to fly to Pskov not only on April 2 but also on January 14 and March 15.

Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Julius Skačkauskas said he only had information about the April 2 flight and the plane intercepted in Palanga.

“You have to realise that there are many institutions involved – ground service providers, Oro Navigacija, and airports. In any case, more coordination would certainly help. But to my knowledge, there are many cases where flights have not taken place, have not been allowed to fly and have been grounded,” Skačkauskas said.

According to him, there will be a response if a law enforcement investigation confirms that the flight to Pskov violated sanctions.

“This should not be the case. We have to learn from this story, the algorithms need to be even stronger, they should have prevented these things,” the deputy minister said.

Experts interviewed by LRT and the opposition representatives in the Seimas are critical of the situation.

According to aviation expert Simonas Bartkus, unlike commercial flights, private flights are currently in the grey area. Even the public cannot get involved in monitoring possible breaches of sanctions because such flights cannot be tracked by flight trackers. There is also a lack of mechanisms and human resources at the institutional level, according to Bartkus.

“There are no mechanisms in place, and the organisations are not ready to implement sanction or sanction monitoring mechanisms. It was not needed before, and most probably the rules that are in place now or the professionals that are working were not appointed for this function,” the expert said.

“At the moment, we are trying very hard to help Ukraine win this war as quickly as possible and the entry of Western aircraft parts or Western aircraft into Russia is a security issue and a question of the limits of the sanctions,” said Dovilė Šakalienė, a member of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defence.

In her words, this case confirms that the control and coordination of the implementation of sanctions is still a work in progress.

"We have raised this issue, and specific measures not only restricting the movement of Russian aircraft in the EU airspace but also banning EU aircraft from entering Russian airspace, except for narrow exceptions, would certainly be logical. If a flight plan to Russia can be easily confirmed when the aircraft is registered in Lithuania and the pilot is not a Russian citizen, and so on... Obviously, there is a loophole,” Šakalienė said.

Business: Lithuania-Russia

Sokolov, who sells aircraft flown via Lithuania in Moscow, is a successful businessman in Russia.

He owns Eogy-Service, a Moscow company registered in the summer of 2021. The company was accredited by the Air Transport Agency under the Russian Ministry of Transport. On its website, Eogy-Service claims to provide aircraft maintenance services.

The relatively new company is also doing well in obtaining Russian state orders. In February this year, Eogy-Service signed two contracts with the St Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation for aircraft maintenance and the supply of spare parts and accessories for the BC Diamond DA aircraft.

In 2011, Sokolov, together with his partners from Kazakhstan and Armenia, also started aviation-related businesses in Lithuania. The first company, Smart Invest LT, said it had representative offices in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. According to its website, which is no longer active, the company provided advice on tax planning, company registration, and residence permits for foreign investors.

According to data gathered by the LRT Investigation Team, Smart Invest LT cooperated with the Pskov air carrier Pskovavia in Russia and carried out private aircraft transactions with another Russian company, Aviakompanija Vertikal-Tim.

Lithuanian companies linked to Sokolov sold planes not only in Russia but also in Ukraine. However, their transactions have raised questions of possible corruption.

In autumn 2019, the National Aviation University of Ukraine (NAU) signed four contracts with the Lithuanian company Aviaserviso Grupė for the purchase of Cessna and Tecnam aircraft. The value of these deals was almost 1 million euros.

The Ukrainian media questioned these procurements at the time. For example, a 2007-built Cessna was purchased for 414 000 euros, even though such a plane could have been bought on the market almost three times cheaper.

Currently, the network linked to Sokolov includes six Lithuanian companies, registered at several of the same addresses – in Vilnius Paneriai Street and an apartment on Milašiaus Street.

The companies linked to Sokolov are headed by Lithuanian citizen Stanislovas Košys. He is currently a director of five companies. He is also on the board of Fly Sky, the Latvian company that sold the plane.

Košys is a former KGB employee. Until the end of 1987, he was an operational agent of the KGB’s Mobilisation Subdivision, and in 1987-1991, he worked in the 2nd Board of the Counterintelligence Division.

Košys refused to talk to the LRT journalists when contacted by phone and has not answered the written questions.

Civilian aircraft could be used in war

Dual-use goods smuggled into Russia have been recorded on several occasions. Through a network of companies in different countries, Russia has been purchasing goods for civilian use but ended up using them in military technology.

Aircraft, such as Cessna and Beechcraft, could also be used in direct warfare. Military experts interviewed by LRT believe that cheap and lightweight planes could be used by the Russian army primarily for reconnaissance. Civilian planes could be converted into remotely piloted reconnaissance drones to identify Ukrainian defensive positions.

“As we have seen from the Armenia-Azerbaijan war, such planes are used as drones. They fly into the territory of the adversary and the adversary has to react, to shoot down that plane. Whoever controls the plane can identify where a high-value air defence system is and attack it.,” retired officer Darius Antanaitis told LRT.

According to him, repurposing light civilian aircraft for war is simple and cheap. Moreover, both Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft can be loaded with explosives or modified to carry a bomb. While a Cessna can carry a half-tonne bomb, a Beechcraft would have a much larger load.

“As the Russians have lost so many aircraft, there is no doubt that every civilian aircraft is valuable. And if there is an opportunity to use such a plane for military purposes, they will. It is naive to be under the illusion that Western-made aircraft will not be used [in war],” Antainaitis said.

According to him, the planes could also be used for several other purposes, such as escorting cargo, transporting officers, and training pilots.

Back in 2013, ViraZH, a Moscow-based pilot training organisation, announced that it had purchased almost 80 Cessna aircraft to be used for pilot training in western Russia. This suggests that this type of aircraft is popular in Russia.

Although public sources do not yet record civilian aircraft in hostilities, experts say that such planes could be used for direct military action, as well as for spare parts.