A court in Sevastopol sentenced Russian serviceman Igor Pashkov to two years and ten months in a penal colony for mistakenly shooting down a Russian helicopter instead of a Ukrainian drone in Crimea, the Kommersant newspaper said.
The serviceman shot down the helicopter in the morning of October 18, 2023, killing three crew members.
Pashkov was charged with committing negligent acts that resulted in the death of three people. He faced up to seven years in prison.
The Defense Ministry wanted to collect 204 million rubles from the man, estimating the amount of the downed helicopter. The court only collected five million from the defendant.
This is the first sentence that was handed down to an air defense officer for negligence demonstrated during efforts to repel Ukraine's drone attack on Crimea.