Russian officer sentenced for downing military helicopter over Crimea instead of drone

The Russian propaganda media outlet kommersant.ru reported the information.

According to media reports, air defense officer Igor Pashkov was sentenced "for negligence during the repulsion of the Ukrainian forces' attack on Crimea." Instead of targeting a drone, he shot down a Russian Mi-8 military helicopter. The officer was sentenced to serve time in a settlement colony. However, the court rejected the Ministry of Defense's claim to recover the cost of the helicopter — nearly 200 million rubles — from the soldier.

Pashkov served as the senior assistant to the operational duty officer at a missile defense unit stationed in temporarily occupied Crimea. He appeared before the Russian-installed garrison military court of Sevastopol, charged with negligence that led to the accidental death of three people. The officer faced up to seven years in prison, but the court sentenced him to three years in a settlement colony and banned him from holding positions involving organizational and executive functions in government or local authorities for one year.

Russian Mi-8 helicopter shot down over Crimea

According to investigators, at 6:30 AM on October 18, 2023, while Captain Pashkov was on duty, he received a report of an air target flying low. The report, from the commander of the firing unit, properly identified the target's call sign. However, the officer who received the message misread the call sign number and mistakenly reported to command that the target was in a different location, recommending a decision to destroy it. The unit commander later clarified that the target was a helicopter flying with its lights on, but by then, it was too late. Pashkov did not trust the follow-up message, and the verification showed no friendly aircraft in the area. As a result, two minutes after the initial report, a missile from a TOR-M2DT surface-to-air missile system destroyed the target. A few minutes later, it was discovered that the air defense had mistakenly targeted a Russian Mi-8 helicopter. The helicopter crashed into the Black Sea, and three crew members, all holding the rank of captain, were killed.

On the same day, investigators opened a criminal case for "violating the rules of combat duty in a combat environment, resulting in severe consequences." Initially, the investigation was conducted against unidentified individuals, but in May of last year, Pashkov admitted that he could have made the fatal mistake. The investigation charged him with negligence.

Pashkov fully admitted his guilt. The court ordered him to pay 5 million rubles to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Widows of the pilots, who had expected to receive 3 million rubles each in compensation for moral damage from the military, were awarded 1 million rubles each by the court.

The verdict was appealed by all parties in the Southern District Military Court (Rostov-on-Don). However, the appellate court upheld the original ruling. The court saw no grounds for a harsher punishment for Pashkov or for increasing the financial penalties, concluding that they "align with the principles of reasonableness and fairness." His sentence was reduced to two years and ten months, considering that it was Pashkov's testimony that provided the investigation with key details of the incident.