Sudan Ilyushin Il-76 shootdown: Russian on board sends video to relatives

Russian citizen Anton Selivanets was on board the Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane that was shot down by rebels in Sudan. Before the crash, he sent a video to his relatives. They later confirmed the information. Another Russian could also be on board — the man's documents appeared in the footage that spread online.

Photo: airliners.net by Алекс Бельтюков, CC BY-SA 3.0

A few hours before the plane crash, Anton Selivanets sent his relatives a video filmed at an altitude of 8,500 meters. The man's brother said that although they corresponded, they rarely called each other, so he was surprised to receive a message.

Selivanets often visited places of military conflict and delivered humanitarian aid there.

Another Russian national, Viktor Granov, chief engineer of Airline Transport Incorporation FZC, could also be on board the shot down Il-76. A plastic flight pass of the Kyrgyz Manas airport was found in his documents. Granov was a citizen of Russia — he was not an employee of the airport itself, TASS said with reference to the press service of JSC Manas International Airport. In May 2024, he was invited to Kyrgyzstan to ferry an An-12 aircraft from Manas to the international airport of Osh, but did not complete the ferry.

Thirty-three-year-old Anton Selivanets, a native of the city of Tuymazy in Bashkiria, flew with Viktor Granov to repair an UAE aircraft that performed an unsuccessful landing in early October, damaging the chassis and engines. The cargo Il-76 was carrying spare parts and tools for repair work.

The Ilyushin Il-76T belonged to the UAE-based Airline Transport Incorporation FZC. The aircraft was registered in the aviation register of Kyrgyzstan and was used for the delivery of aid from the UAE to Am Jeres in eastern Chad. Photos of the pilots' documents found at the crash site quickly spread on social networks. A passport in the name of Anton S. and an ID in the name of Viktor Granov were among the documents found on the crash site.

There are a few curious, although unconfirmed details about the shot down Ilyushin Il-76T. The aircraft allegedly arrived from Ukraine in early 2023, where it belonged to ZetAvia. This aircraft previously had UR-CPS registration. In 2020, it appeared in a criminal case filed by the Security Bureau of Ukraine: the aircraft was used for an illegal attempt to export dual-use goods from Ukraine.

The company's chief engineer, Viktor Granov, who was allegedly on board, was a notorious individual in certain circles. A former military transport pilot, he "pirated" in Africa in the 1990s. He had made many enemies during that time. He earned the reputation of a good pilot, but not a very good person.

Sudan has been in the grip of a civil war due to the conflict between the de facto head of state Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the Sovereign Council, and the leader of the Rapid Intervention Forces Mohammed Hamdan Daglo. The political crisis in Sudan began after President Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled the country for 30 years, was ousted from power in a military coup in 2019.

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The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-12. It was developed to deliver heavy machinery to remote, poorly served areas. Military versions of the Il-76 have been widely used in Europe, Asia and Africa, including use as an aerial refueling tanker or command center. The Il-76 has seen extensive service as a commercial freighter for ramp-delivered cargo, especially for outsized or heavy items that cannot be carried by other means. It has also been used as an emergency response transport for civilian evacuations as well as for humanitarian aid and disaster relief around the world. Thanks to its ability to operate from unpaved runways, it has been useful in undeveloped areas. Specialized models have also been produced for aerial firefighting and zero-G training.