Chief Of Staff of Ukrainian Army called in for questioning over 2014 air crash in eastern Ukraine
The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Viktor Muzhenko, was called in for questioning on the crash of an IL-76 cargo jet over Luhansk in eastern Ukraine which claimed the lives of 49 people. This was reported by Ukrainian Channel 5.
According to Channel 5, the Chief of Staff was questioned by the Pavlograd court of the Dnipro region. The questioning was conducted via teleconference. The commander of the 25th Transport Aviation Brigade,Dmitry Mimrikov, was also summoned to the court hearings. At the time of the air disaster he was piloting a second cargo jet which successfully landed in Luhansk airport.
On November 25, 2015 the Pecherski Court of the city of Kiev issued an arrest warrant for General Victor Nazarov indicting him of being responsible for the air crash. A few days later he was released on bail of 365 thousand hryvnia (14.5 thousand dollars).
The prosecutors stated that the General failed to take into account the information provided by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and gave the green light to conduct the special military operation of transporting a unit of Ukrainian military to the Luhask Airport, besieged by separatists. General Nazarov denied all the accusations.
The Ukrainian Il-76 military cargo jet was shot down on June 14,2014 as it was landing at the Luhansk Airport. Nine crew members and 40 military personnel were killed in that crash. The Ukrainian prosecutors called the incident a terrorist act. The representatives of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic claimed responsibility for shooting down the Ukrainian plane. The separatist accused the Ukrainian military of violating the ban on air flights over the areas under the separatist control.