Russian authorities have released the names of the crew members of the Il-76 that crashed near Belgorod on January 24.
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Muscovites wrote briefly about the plane crash. The list looks like this:
- crew commander Bezzubkin;
- assistant ship commander Chmyrev;
- navigator Vysokin;
- flight engineer Piluev;
- flight engineer Zhitenev;
- flight radio operator Sablinsky.
The fact that the crashed crew of the Il-76 was from the Orenburg region was announced shortly after the crash by the head of the region, Denis Pasler.
Earlier, Schemes journalists also identified the names of the crew members of the Russian IL-76 aircraft that crashed on the morning of January 24 in the Belgorod region.
The death of at least three of them was confirmed by their relatives – 36-year-old ship commander Stanislav Bezzubkin, ship navigator Alexey Vysokin, 38-year-old flight engineer Andrei Piluev. The crew belonged to the 117th military transport aviation regiment, based in Orenburg.
The death of the ship’s commander Stanislav Bezzubkin was confirmed by his wife Marika Bezzubkina. She said this was reported to the Russian Ministry of Defense. She said that the last time she communicated with her husband was around 7.30 in the morning (Russian time – “Rakurs”), at which time he, according to her, was supposed to fly out of Moscow.
The death of on-board engineer Andrei Piluev was also confirmed by his wife. The death of navigator Alexei Vysokin was confirmed by his cousin. Under the photo of another Il-76 crew member, on-board radio operator Igor Sablinsky, comments appeared on social networks expressing condolences over his death.
The flight was also supposed to be serviced by airborne equipment flight engineer Sergei Zhitenev, but it has not yet been possible to independently confirm his death.
According to leaks from Russian databases, the place of service of five crew members is indicated as the 117th Military Transport Aviation Regiment. The same information was published by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in March 2022, indicating Bezzubkin, Vysokin, Piluev, Zhitenev and Sablinsky on the list of servicemen of the 117th separate transport aviation regiment “delivering weapons and ammunition for murder.”
Schemes have not yet been able to independently verify information from Russian authorities that there were also Ukrainian prisoners on board.
The Russian military transport Il-76 crashed on January 24 near Belgorod airport. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that on board the Il-76 there were six crew members, three accompanying persons and 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war, who were allegedly being taken for exchange.
The Russian Ministry of Defense called the Il-76 accident a terrorist attack and blamed the Ukrainian military for it. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that his country will “insist on an international investigation” into the Il-76 crash, without saying who it considers guilty of what happened.
Source: Racurs
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