A Russian air defense officer was sentenced to nearly three years in jail for wrongly shooting down a Russian helicopter after mistaking it for a Ukrainian drone, the Kommersant organization dailyreported Wednesday, pointing out court documents.Three team members of the Mi-8 helicopter were eliminated after a Russian anti-air rocket system shot it down over annexed Crimea on Oct.
18, 2023.
Captain Igor Pashkov, an assistant air defense officer on responsibility at the time, turned himself in to the authorities last May, admitting that he could have made a deadly mistake, Kommersant reported.According to the court documents, an unknown fight crew chief reported a low-flying, low-speed aerial target to Pashkov.The crew chief later clarified that the target was a helicopter flying with the lights on, but Pashkov did not think the follow-up reports and a check revealed there were no friendly aircraft in the area, Kommersant said.Two minutes after the initial message, a missile fired from the Tor-M2DT anti-aircraft rocket system ruined the target, it added without clarifying whether Pashkov got or released the orders to shoot it down.A military court in the Crimean city of Sevastopol found Pashkov guilty of negligence and sentenced him to 3 years in a penal colony.An appeals court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don later decreased that sentence by two months, Kommersant reported.Pashkov pleaded guilty to the charges.
He confronted seven years in jail, however the judge identified that his admission of guilt, having a dependent child with a disability and status as a battle veteran with state awards all served as mitigating circumstances.Pashkov was likewise purchased to pay Russias Defense Ministry 5 million rubles ($48,800) in compensation for home damage and 1 million rubles ($9,700) to each of the team members widows.Russias Defense Ministry initially looked for 204 million rubles ($1.9 million) for the damaged helicopter, which crashed into the Black Sea.