Defendant in case on attempted poisoning of pilots in Kuban sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment

In Rostov-on-Don, a court found Yegor Semyonov, a native of Melitopol, guilty in the case on the attempted poisoning of graduates of the Armavir Higher Military Aviation School of Air Defence Pilots in the Krasnodar Territory.

The Southern District Military Court sentenced Yegor Semyonov, who was found guilty of the attempted poisoning of graduates of the Higher Military Aviation School in Armavir, to 27 years of imprisonment. “For the totality of the crimes, by partial addition of the sentences, Yegor Semyonov was sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony with the first five years to be served in prison,” the “Interfax” quotes the judge as pronouncing the verdict.

Yegor Semyonov was found guilty under Paragraph “a” of Part 3 of Article 205 (terrorist act) and Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (high treason), the RBC reports.

According to the investigators’ version, Yegor Semyonov was recruited by a Ukrainian intelligence officer in early 2023. Later, Yegor Semyonov got an instruction to organize the murder of graduates of the Armavir Red Banner Higher Military Aviation School of Air Defence Pilots, who were planning to meet at a banquet dedicated to the anniversary of their graduation from the higher military aviation school.

The graduates were celebrating the 20th anniversary of their graduation from the higher military aviation school at the “Tsarskaya Okhota” (Royal Hunting) restaurant, and 77 people gathered there. Bottles with whiskey and cognac, together with a big cake, were delivered to the “Tsarskaya Okhota” restaurant by Yegor Semyonov. The man introduced himself as a courier and said that the bottles with whiskey and cognac and the cake were a gift from one of the graduates who was unable to come to the meeting in person. Yegor Semyonov did not mention the sender’s name and quickly left the restaurant. That fact seemed suspicious to the participants of the celebration, so they did not try the cake and reported the incident to the Russian FSB.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 29, 2025 at 06:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.