Lithuania Returned Pilot to Russia
// The leftovers of the aircraft will stay
Yesterday Lithuanian General Prosecution officially announced about the closing case of of Russian Air Force Maj. Valery Troyanov, who intruded into the Lithuanian airspace on Sept.15. Troyanov was released from house arrest and returned to the Motherland. However, there are still questions about the incident: these are financial aspects (Russian side would have to pay for the damage) as well as political ones, connected with tangled relationships of Russia-Lithuania- NATO in the strategically important region of Eastern Baltic.
Maj. Troyanov Is Already Home
Yesterday, General Prosecution Office of Lithuania closed the case of Russian pilot Valery Troyanov. In the morning, Trayanov was questioned for the last time. After that, the Prosecution dropped all the charges and cancelled future investigation. The pilot was released from the house arrest. For all this time he was living in Vilnius' hotel Balatonas, where he and his wife, who came from Russia to support the husband, were the only tenants. In the evening the couple left in the Russian Embassy's car to Kaliningrad. The wife of Troyanov, before the departure, told journalists that she is "upset and angered with this state."
Let's remind that Maj.Troyanov, who was piloting a Su-27 during maneuvers over the Baltic Sea on September 15, had to perform an emergency ejection over Lithuanian territory because the total loss of control over the aircraft. After the landing, the pilot was immediately arrested by local law enforcement officers. Despite several protests from Moscow, Vilnius did not rush to release the captured pilot or the leftovers of the plane. The Lithuanian officials for a long time did not believe that the Russian jet fighter appeared in the country airspace by mistake after pilot lost his course due the navigational equipment failure. Some people were saying about possible espionage. The information about finding 2 kilograms of radioactive substance on the place of crash added even more heat to the scandal.
The Lithuanian media were continuing to escalade the problem after they quoted the Russian pilot, who said right after the arrest that the aircraft was not armed -- later it was found that Su-27 had four air-to-air missiles. Moreover, the Lithuanian officials insisted that the Russian side was taking too long to answer if any ecologically damaging substances could be left after the crash of the jet fighter.
If the investigation would have reach the conclusion that Maj. Troyanov had invaded into Lithuania's airspace intentionally - he could face up to two years in jail. However, last Tuesday the local Defense Minister Gediminas Kirkilas publicized the conclusions of investigation commission - "The Russian jet fighter was technically sound, but it was prepared to the flight in the rush." According to the minister "the catastrophe was a combination of technical, organizational and human factors." Thus, the subject of intentional intrusion into the airspace was closed.
Maj.Troyanov will Teach Children to Be Patriotic
Yesterday evening, during the brief press conference in the Russian Embassy in Vilnius Maj. Troyanov and Defense Ministry Envoy Gen. Maj. Sergey Baynetov made statements and answered journalists’ questions. Troyanov said that Lithuanian authorities were treating him "quite correctly." The major told Kommersant that he "feels himself normal except for some back pains." He stated that if pilot ejects in Russia, he immediately after has to go through a rigorous medical check up. Answering the question of why the pilot refused to be attended by Lithuanian medics, Toryanov said that he did that as a protest against them not letting him see the representatives from Russian Embassy.
General Baynetov called Lithuanian investigation of the crash "quite competent." "I thanked the Brigadier General Vitalius Vaikshnoras (the head of the inter-ministry commission for the crash investigation -Kommersant) and told him that the conclusions of his commission will be taken in consideration," Baynetov said. Commenting on further fate of Maj. Troyanov, the General said that it has to be an investigation first about the reasons for the crash of the jet fighter.
In the mean time, the town of Lodeynoe Pole (Leningrad Region) is preparing a ceremonial meeting for the Russian pilot. According to the head of the regional press service Valentin Sidorin, the medical check up could be done for the pilot in St. Petersburg if necessary. Sidorin also said that "there are already plans for Troyanov to give patriotic lessons in some schools."
It looks like the students of the Russian school in Vilnius also got overwhelmed by patriotic feelings. Yesterday, a paper airplane landed next to the Kommersant correspondent’s feet. There were written words on the wings -- "Su-27" and "V.Troyanov."
The Plane Pieces Will Stay in Lithuania
However, despite the fortunate release of the pilot, there are still questions about the incident. It was not yet decided what to do with the pieces of the jet fighter. Defense Minister Gediminas Kerkilas said yesterday evening about another investigation commission being created in Lithuania to decide exactly this problem. According to the minister, "the fate of the aircraft pieces is a difficult question, which requires consideration of a lot of aspects -- including the international ones."
All remains of the Su-27 must to be transferred under the jurisdiction of the local defense ministry because they are considered "objects forbidden for civilian use" in Lithuania. As Kommersant already reported, the Prosecutor Mindaugas Duda, who was investigating Troyanov's case, said that the Prosecution office has no ability to store the plane pieces. According to the Lithuanian law, the evidence should be either destroyed after the investigation is complete or given to Russia as it requested.
The Lithuanian Defense Ministry stated yesterday to Kommersant: "Russia so far did not ask us to return the remains of the jet fighter. Despite several public statements, we do not have official a request from Russia." Kirkilas said that during the investigation the commission was cooperating with Russian Defense Ministry Envoy Gen. Maj. Baynetov, but he had no rights to talk about the fate of the plane’s remains.
Also, there is a question about the jet-fighter's transponder. The Lithuanian side insists that it has it and Russian military said several times that the transponder system is programmed to destroy itself either during the pilot ejection or during the ground impact. When yesterday, during the press conference, one of the Lithuanian journalists tried to find out if Troyanov had time to push the button to destroy the transponder, the Russian Embassy Press Secretary Mikhail Kalugin suggested to journalist to ask question about the pilot's health.
There is also the unsolved question of what amount of compensation the Lithuanian authorities would demand from Russia. As Kommersant already wrote earlier, the initial amount was about ˆ 2,900 for the land damage. However, later Vilnius decide to increase the amount because of the ecological damage and longer than expected time and efforts to investigate the crash site.
Finally, despite all the mutual niceties between Moscow and Vilnius, the consequences of this incident are still foggy for the relationship of Russia and Lithuania. Some observers said that European Union and NATO, which do not want to spoil the relationship with Moscow, influenced Vilnius’ decision to close the case. However, during the investigation the Lithuanian side several times pointed out the flight safety problem of Russian jets flying from "mainland" to the Kaliningrad "enclave." It is possible that the Baltic countries would try to use diplomatic and NATO channels to discuss limitations for such flights.
Vladimir Vodo, Vilnius; Boris Volkhonsky
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 07, 2005
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