A senior executive in charge of aircraft purchases for Russias flagship airline Aeroflot has been arrested on suspicion of fraud, Russias state-run Interfax news agencyreported Wednesday.Mikhail Minayev, director of Aeroflots fleet planning and aircraft procurement, was placed in pre-trial detention by Moscows Khoroshevsky court until Aug.
8.If found guilty, Minayev faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of large-scale embezzlement.The arrest comes as Russias airline industry struggles with collapsing passenger numbers, triggered by sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.Citing an unnamed source, news website RBCreported that Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Minayev in late 2021 over allegedly overvalued aircraft lease rates from China.All this happened post-2014, when it became much more difficult for Aeroflot to lease planes due to some Western banks refusal to work with Russia, the source was quoted as saying.Minayev is at least the second senior Aeroflot executive to face criminal prosecution in recent months.Former Aeroflot deputy CEO Andrei Panov, who resigned in March and fled Russia for Israel, is alsosuspected of fraud related to a 194-million-ruble ($2.3 million) marketing strategy deal with the United States consultancy Bain - Company.The Khoroshevsky court last month ordered Panovs arrest in absentia on corruption charges that carry a 10-year maximum jail sentence.Panov says that the criminal case is politically motivated, linking it to a Financial Times column he penned in April calling on colleagues to sabotage Russias war effort in Ukraine.Aeroflot has been cut off from many of its profitable routes after Western countries closed their airspace to Russian planes in retaliation to Moscows invasion of Ukraine.Aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus also halted their supplies of replacement parts, affecting 95% of Aeroflots fleet.