Proekt released an investigation into Russian officials’ flights. Here are its main findings

Proekt released an investigation into Russian officials’ flights. Here are its main findings

✹ 322 of Russia’s 1,064 top government officials fly abroad on business jets. In most cases, these are not one-off trips but regular flights, each of which cost an average of $32,000.

✹ The officials who fly most often by business jet are LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky and Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov. In 2014–2023, each of them and their relatives took 350-360 such flights.

✹ 101 top government officials fly not at their own expense, but on aircraft likely provided by major businessmen. Officials do not shy away from using business jets registered to state companies for personal flights either.

✹ The leader in the number of flights with oligarchs is Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. And First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko flew with his family to the Maldives on a Rosatom jet.

✹ Russian government officials even travel to Mount Athos by private plane. Among these VIP pilgrims are the same Sergey Kiriyenko, Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov, and former Prosecutor General Yury Chaika.

✹ The most popular destination for flights by Putin’s elite is France. Overall, 7 of the 10 countries most frequently visited by officials in 2014–2023 were in Western and Southern Europe.

✹ Russian government officials fly not only with relatives and businessmen, but also with figures from the criminal world. Communist deputy Boris Ivanyuzhenkov, who was once a member of the Podolsk organized crime group, flew abroad with leaders of the Izmailovo, Podolsk, Chekhov, and Balashikha criminal groups.

@meduzalive

Proekt.

Fellow Travelers

A database of business jets used by Russian officials. Where, for how much, and on whose planes officials and their relatives fly