Sanctions? Plane En Route to Kazakhstan Detained in Finland

Finnish authorities have detained a private jet registered in Lithuania, Orda reports, citing LRT.

It landed at Helsinki Airport on December 4. The aircraft was scheduled to fly to Pskov, Russia, and then to Kazakhstan, but its route raised suspicions.

The plane was being delivered to a new buyer and piloted by Latvia and Lithuania citizens.

The LRT investigation department already knows Lithuanian Robertas Petku.

In April last year, he transported a Beechcraft B24R Sierra from Kaunas Airport to Pskov.

The plane was then sold in Moscow for 138 thousand euros, although the sellers claimed the deal was concluded with a buyer in Kazakhstan.

 Last March, Petkus was involved in another situation with a Cessna 172 aircraft detained in Palanga.

As LRT previously reported, the Russians who bought the aircraft through intermediaries in Türkiye and Italy tried to deliver it with the help of people working in Lithuania.

However, the Palanga airport employees reacted promptly. After the pilot of the Cessna aircraft disappeared, Petkus tried to intervene. 

Introducing himself as an employee of the Italian-Russian company MAK Aviation Services, he tried to take the remaining documents and organize the flight from Palanga to Kaunas.

Law enforcement agencies have launched a pre-trial investigation over the detention of the plane in Palanga. 

The Lithuanian Financial Crime Service has confirmed to LRT that the investigation is ongoing.

Customs officials suspected European sanctions had been circumvented and did not allow the flight to continue.

As of December 17, the plane was still in Helsinki.

Finnish journalists confirmed the plane's detention. Although Finnish officials declined to comment, they did not deny the arrest.

A beautiful flying Baron. Hangared, privately owned since 1999. Hasn't flown much in the last three years, but the engine is started up every two weeks, the Beechcraft B55's for-sale advert posted in June of this year.

The aircraft with Lithuanian registration LY-ARA was sold in Vilnius, confirmed by similar ads on other websites.

Some indicated a price of around 100 thousand euros. However, most are no longer available.

Most ads for the aircraft's sale were removed on the day of its detention in Helsinki.

Internet archives made it possible to establish who posted the ads. They mentioned pilot Rytis Dulinskas and the company "Aviacom."

Dulinskas holds a vital position in the Lithuanian Transport Competence Agency, where he is an adviser to the head of the flight control department.

At the same time, he manages UAB Aviacom and owns 50% of the company's shares. As an Aviacom employee, his contact information was listed in the advertisements for the sale of the plane detained in Finland.

After contacting Dulinskas, LRT learned that he was surprised that the plane was flying to Pskov and stopped in Helsinki. He said neither he nor Aviacom had any ties to the plane.

He claims they were only helping a friend sell it, saying the situation was "an absolute surprise."

The plane was not sold through the company. I am not even its owner. My friend asked for help, and I helped place an ad and also talked to people who were interested in the plane, Dulinskas said.

He did not divulge other details. Later, he specified that the plane was purchased by a Latvian citizen, who could have been an intermediary.

An unnamed Cypriot company was also involved in the transaction.

The middleman was likely Roberts Klimovich, who was on board the Beechcraft when it landed in Helsinki on December 4.

In an interview with LRT, he confirmed that he had acted as a middleman in the purchase and specified that the transport was currently detained.

Klimovich said that his close relatives in Latvia bought the plane, and he flew to Russia only to get to Kazakhstan.

He said the Baltic countries have strict regulations for flights to Russia, requiring additional permits, so he chose Finland, where they are less rigorous.

I did not fly to Kazakhstan to sell the plane in Russia or Uzbekistan. I am an aviation enthusiast, the founder of a flight school in Riga and looking for an opportunity to establish a base in Kazakhstan. The flight was connected with these plans, says Klimovich.

He does not understand Finnish customs' decisions.

He claims to have observed all European aviation regulations. 

Finnish authorities did not tell him why the flight to Pskov was stopped. He has contacted the Finnish Prosecutor's Office.

Original Author: Artem Volkov