The Federal Air Transportation Agency has refused to investigate whether Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s stunt at piloting a firefighting aircraft was legal, lawyer and activist Andrei Navalny said Wednesday.
Navalny requested an inquiry into Putin’s actions in August, but the agency replied that it has no authority to investigate because it oversees commercial, not state-owned, aircraft. Navalny said on his blog that he was waiting to hear from the transport prosecutor’s office.
Putin co-piloted the aircraft, owned by the Emergency Situations Ministry, during the wildfires in the Ryazan region. Navalny said he had no legal right to do so because he had received no pilot training.
(MT)