DUSHANBE, November 9, 2011, Asia-Plus — Sensations launched by Russia’s Foreign Ministry on November 8 around the prison sentence of two Russian-hired pilots could not be called an efficient policy of the Russian authorities to protect the pilots, Suhrob Sharipov, the head of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“By releasing such hasty statements regarding this issue the Russian Foreign Minister just wants to conceal oversights in work of the Russian diplomatic mission in Tajikistan, which responded to the arrest of those pilots only after media outlets released reports on that case,” the head of Tajik think tank noted.
Tajik senior expert also expresses surprise why no one Russian official has admitted so far that the pilots actually committed crime “because they crossed Tajikistan’s border illegally and are involved in smuggling an aircraft engine.”
“No one court in the world passes unjustified sentence,” Sharipov stressed.
Commenting on Russian MFA’s statement that the verdict could harm Russian-Tajik relations, Sharipov noted, “If the Russian authorities state with or without reason that relations between the two countries will deteriorate, it will be so.”
We will recall that the Qurghon Teppa city court sentenced Captain Vladimir Sadovnichiy (Russian national) and Captain Aleksey Rudenko (national of Estonia), working for Rolkan Investments Limited which is domiciled in the British Virgin Islands, to 10½ years in prison each on November 8. The sentence followed their conviction on charges of violation of international air carriage regulations, smuggling and illegally crossing border. But the two men will spend only 8 1/2 years in jail due to the terms of a recent general amnesty. The court also ruled that they will serve their terms in a high-security penal colony. Both aircraft and the contraband aircraft engine were confiscated.
Meanwhile, the pilots maintain their innocence. Captain Sadovnichiy told their trial they are not guilty of the charges against them and asked that they be released.
Sadovnichiy and Rudenko were detained after landing at the Qurghon Teppa in March with their two aircraft on a flight from Afghanistan bound for Russia. Tajik authorities ordered them to return to Kabul, but the two pilots said they were forced to make an emergency landing for refueling. After a spare engine was found on one of the planes, the pilots were accused of smuggling and the two aircraft were seized.
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded to the verdict passed on Russian-hired pilots in Tajikistan by saying it was too harsh and “politically charged,” and warned it could harm Russian-Tajik relations.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich slammed the sentences as politically motivated and said they could negatively affect Moscow”s relations with Dushanbe. He said Tajik authorities did not provide any convincing evidence of the men”s guilt, Itar-Tass reports.
“Tajikistan is blatantly violating existing international norms,” said Lukashevich. “It is also unclear what its plans are with regard to the seized airplanes. This verdict does not help strengthen our existing relationship as allied strategic partners, in fact it is damaging it seriously.”
