The president’s Mi-8 helicopter almost came into collision with a private aircraft in May 2012,Lenta.ru reports. Aviation authorities were trying to conceal the incident.

The incident took place on May 26th. A private sport ВС Rockwell Commander 112ТСА aircraft (registration number RA-0988G) has crossed the heading of the president’s helicopter near Buzharovo village (Moscow Region). Thevehiclesmissedeachother.

According to a source, the pilot of president’s Mi-8 helicopter has reported on the incident. He said that the aircraft flew over the helicopter. At that, the airspace must be free when the president’s craft is in the air.

Information regarding the incident was carefully concealed from mass media and even supervision agencies, Izvestiya reports. Federal Air Transport Agency and Federal Agency for Transport Supervision got to know about the incident only after several hours. Although, according to instructions, the telegram about such incidents must be delivered to them immediately.

A source close to Federal Air Transport Agency said that the investigation into the incident has already been completed. AlexanderRyabininwasthepilottoviolatetheairspace. As it turned out, he had an expired private pilot-license and he also had no airworthiness certificate. In addition, he rose in the air without informing the flight operations officers. As a result, Ryabinin was fined for 2000 rubles.

According to a pilot, that was the only penalty. "Honestly, I thought that everything would be much worse, - Alexander Ryabinin said. – In every country of the world you will face tough sanctions in such case. Secret services will come after you. However, no one has contacted me".