Convicted Russians pardoned, released in armsdrop case

NEW DELHI, JULY 22: The five Russian crew members sentenced to life imprisonment for being involved in the 1995 Purulia armsdrop were rele...

NEW DELHI, JULY 22: The five Russian crew members sentenced to life imprisonment for being involved in the 1995 Purulia armsdrop were released from Presidency jail in Calcutta today following an agreement between the Indian and Russian Governments.

The five had been found guilty by a Calcutta court on the charge of hatching a conspiracy to wage a war against the West Bengal Government and also under the Arms Act, Explosives Substances Act and Aircraft Act. The prime accused Peter Bleach, who was also serving the sentence of life imprisonment, is now in the Presidency jail.

The crew members were brought from Presidency jail to Russian deputy consulate office. The five — Alexander Klichin, Igor Timmerman, Igor Moskvitin, Oleg Gaidasch and E Antimenko — were the crew members of the plane, which dropped arms over Purulia on the night of December 17, 1995.

According to a report from Moscow, the foreign ministry confirmed the aircrew were at the Russian consulate in Calcutta and officials were waiting for news of their condition. An official Russian statement would be issued about the release of the crew members. Four of the men are Russian citizens and the fifth is a resident of Latvia without Latvian citizenship.

Meanwhile, Moscow today "warmly" welcomed the release of five Russian pilots with Russian President Vladimir Putin describing the "humane decision" a result of "friendly attitude of Indian leadership and people towards Russia."

Putin, attending the G-8 summit in Japan, thanked the Indian leadership for the release, which, he said, underscored that the relations between Russia and India are constantly developing.

"This gesture of friendship will no doubt contribute to further development" of the bilateral ties, Putin was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

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He said the released pilots would return to Russia on Monday.

A Russian foreign ministry spokesman told PTI that Moscow "warmly welcomes" the release of the five Russian pilots of a Latvian plane which dropped a large cache of arms over Purulia in West Bengal in 1995.

The five, convicted for complicity in the arms-dropping, were released today and handed over to Russian authorities following commutation of their sentence by President K R Narayanan.

The five pilots were residents of Latvia and embraced Russian citizenship in Calcutta jail when the Latvian Government refused to provide legal assistance to them.