A Ukrainian court has sentenced a local pilot to 12 years in prison. The man has been accused of spying for Russia and providing Russian military with information, classified as state secrets. This is according to a statement, published by Ukraine's Prosecutor-General's Office on 23 June 2016.
"It is established that the Major deliberately gave full information to Russian reps on the surveillance flight, conducted by Ukrainian jet. This information allowed Moscow to plan the counter-measures, which reduced the efficiency of the flight", the officials said.
During the flight the accused pilot refused to obey orders and decided to deviate from the planned route. As the prosecutors claimed, the serviceman had attempted to establish contact with unidentified men and tried to reach Russian borders.