Long arguments: who will be responsible for the helicopter crash in Yakutia

After a year and a half of investigating the case of the Robinson R44 helicopter crash in Yakutia in 2024, in which four people died, the defendants have not appeared. The wife of one of the victims, who was recognized as a victim, appealed to the head of the Investigative Committee with a request to study the degree of responsibility of the vehicle owner. She justified her position by the fact that the investigation found that the helicopter did not have an airworthiness certificate, and also found out that its number was broken. In the meantime, the pilot's error appeared as one of the versions in the case.

Without documents and license

The wife of one of the passengers who died in a helicopter crash in the mountains of Yakutia in 2024, Svetlana Rogaleva, demanded that the CEO of the company that owned the aircraft be held accountable. At the end of January 2026, she and her lawyer contacted the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin.

"We ask you to take personal control of the criminal case and instruct employees to question Valery Ivanovich Shikuto, CEO of Sakha Trade LLC, as a suspect, to charge him, and interrogate him," the document says (Izvestia has it).

The Robinson R44 helicopter disappeared in the Aldan region of Yakutia on July 19, 2024. At first, the aircraft's emergency radio beacon went off, and later the pilot did not get in touch at the appointed time. On July 22, the destroyed helicopter was found on the mountainside. On board the helicopter were the pilot and three passengers, one of whom was forester Mikhail Rogalev. They all died.

First, the investigators opened a criminal case under the article "Violation of traffic safety rules and operation of air transport, which negligently resulted in the death of two or more persons." Three versions of the incident were considered: piloting error, technical malfunction and adverse weather conditions, follows from the message of the Eastern Interregional Investigative Department for Transport of the United Kingdom.

In September 2024, another criminal case was initiated on forgery of the state registration mark. According to the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor's Office, the Robinson R44II helicopter's badge was changed to a different number with a touch-up.

Valery Shikuto, CEO of the Sakha Trade gold mining company, purchased the helicopter in 2023, while the certificate of airworthiness expired in 2020, follows from the resolution of the Yakut Investigative Committee on Transport of the Russian Academy of Sciences dated February 2025 (Izvestia has it).

"On July 18, 2024, the management of Sakha Trade LLC organized passenger transportation in the absence of a license to transport passengers by air, the absence of an airworthiness certificate, the absence of all ship documents on board, and the absence of liability insurance for harm to the life and health of passengers," the document says.

As follows from it, in the actions of the company's officials "there are signs of a crime provided for in the article on the provision of services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers, which negligently resulted in the death of two or more persons."

The case was opened in February 2025. In April of the same year, Svetlana Rogaleva was recognized as a victim in the case.

According to the materials, in July 2025, the victim Svetlana Rogaleva was refused to initiate criminal proceedings against Valery Shikuto, CEO of Sakha Trade, calling it a premature measure due to the lack of a flight technical expertise report.

As Izvestia found out, after sending a complaint to the chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, on January 30, 2026, the Yakut Transport Prosecutor's Office demanded the materials of the criminal case on the helicopter crash for additional study, and an inspection is underway. The accused have not yet appeared in the case.

Izvestia sent a request to the Vostochny District Court of the United Kingdom with a request to report the results of the investigation, as well as to answer whether there are suspects or accused in the case. The editorial board also sent a request to the central office of the Investigative Committee with a request to confirm receipt of the victim's letter.

The investigation is dragging on

Izvestia spoke with the widow of the deceased Mikhail Rogalev.

"It's been more than a year and a half since the tragedy,— she said. — My husband, Mikhail, served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 25 years, then for six years he guarded the forest, which he loved more than anything in the world. He didn't want to fly that Robinson, called it a "tin can" and seemed to have a premonition of trouble. A year and a half of pain, expectations and questions, to which the investigation has not yet given an honest answer.

According to her, the main question for the families of the victims is why no one has been punished so far.

"The investigation is dragging on," she complained. — And the families of the victims are forced to prove the obvious over and over again: there is a fact of death, there are violations established by the investigation, but so far no one has been brought to criminal responsibility.

The representative of the injured party, Chairman of the Jamkochyan and Partners Bar Association, Karo Jamkochyan, noted that the operation of an aircraft without an airworthiness certificate is prohibited, as specified in the Air Code.

"In the presence of such violations, a criminal legal assessment should be given not only to the fact of the disaster, but also to the actions of those who allowed the ship to sail," he noted. — In such cases, the key issue is the control and responsibility of officials of the aircraft owner company.

Izvestia sent a request to the Sakha Trade company with a request to tell its version of what happened, as well as to evaluate the actions of the victims.

Who will be held accountable

The absence of the accused in the case is due to the conduct of complex examinations, for example, flight technical, meteorological, forensic, as well as expertise on decoding phonograms, data from automatic and electronic devices, lawyer Mikhail Sazanov believes.

"They will be used to determine the condition of the pilot, the influence of environmental factors in specific flight conditions, and how well the aircraft's flight was organized depending on weather conditions," he said.

Only then can the actions of the pilot and the owner be given a full legal assessment.

And human rights activist Ekaterina Dashevskaya believes that in the case of the Robinson R44 helicopter crash in Yakutia, it is important to understand not only the causes of the accident, but also who sent people flying and on what grounds.

"If it is confirmed that the carriage was actually a passenger one, and the operator did not have mandatory permits and valid airworthiness documents, this is not a formality — it is precisely such gray schemes that remove the last security barriers," she said. — The initiation of a criminal case is important, but it is also necessary to ensure speed and transparency: do not delay the procedural status of the organizers, provide victims with access to information.

Ekaterina Dashevskaya noted that the demand for small aircraft is growing in the Russian regions. In her opinion, verifiable rules — digital verification of licenses and certificates, compulsory insurance, and liability of not only pilots, but also customers - will help prevent accidents.

Judicial practice under the article on the provision of services that do not meet safety requirements in the event of death of people is formed around establishing a direct causal relationship between specific violations and the consequences that have occurred, Veronika Polyakova, a criminal lawyer and managing partner of the Business Legal Group Bar Association, told Izvestia.

— The courts carefully examine all factors: the actions of the pilot, the technical condition of the vessel, the work of air traffic controllers, and compliance by the owner company with flight clearance procedures. In similar cases, the maximum prescribed penalties are rarely imposed, most often up to five to six years in prison," she said.

According to the lawyer, several persons may be charged in the case of the plane crash in Yakutia. For example, a pilot who makes a mistake in control may be found guilty of violating flight rules directly. And if the owner company knew about the malfunction, but authorized the flight, then the responsibility will fall on its management. But she did not rule out that the CEO of the company would be involved in the case only as a witness.