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Russian Airline Pilot Convicted Of Treason Dies In Prison


Igor Pokusin was accused of trying to defect to Ukraine to fight against Russia's invasion.
Igor Pokusin was accused of trying to defect to Ukraine to fight against Russia's invasion.

Retired Russian airline pilot Igor Pokusin, whose opposition to his country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine landed him in prison, has died at the age of 61. Pokusin, who had two prosthetic joints and a stent implanted in his heart, was sentenced to eight years in January on a charge of trying to volunteer in the Ukrainian Army. Sources on June 14 told RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities that Pokusin died in prison on June 11. The cause of death was not immediately clear. Pokusin was born in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa but lived most of his life in Abakan, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Khakassia. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities, click here.

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