All eight crew members of the Antonov cargo plane that crashed on Saturday night near the northern Greek town of Paleochori Kavalas perished in the crash, Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa said on Sunday. Stefanovic.
The Antonov 12, owned by a Ukrainian company Meridian LTD, was carrying regarding 11 tonnes of armaments, including illuminating mortar mines, bound for Bangladesh, the minister said.
“As for the identity of the crew I think they are also Ukrainian but we have no information regarding it, they are not Serbian“, said Mr. Stefanovic during a press conference. The plane took off from Nis airport (southern Serbia) on Saturday around 8:40 p.m. (6:40 p.m. GMT). The exporter of these armaments is the Serbian company Private Validate.
The Minister insisted that it was an agreed transaction with the Ministry of Defense of Bangladesh”in accordance with international rules“. “Unfortunately, some media have speculated that this flight was allegedly transporting weapons to Ukraine, which is completely false.“, did he declare.
“No other connection exists between these goods and Ukraine”
Since 2016, when every arms order is listed in electronic form, Serbia has not issued any authorization for any arms export to Ukraine or Russia, Stefanovic said. . According to the minister, the majority of the cargo planes that transport armaments are of Soviet production and in the possession of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
With Russia and Belarus under international sanctions due to the conflict in Ukraine, only Ukrainian transport planes are active and “committed around the world“.
“Apart from the fact that they are the property of Ukrainian companies, no other link exists between these goods and Ukraine“said the minister.
The Antonov crashed on Saturday evening near the town of Paleochori Kavalas. Witnesses saw the plane on fire and heard explosions, Athens News reported. According to press reports, the plane had just requested an emergency landing permit at the Greek airport of Kavala, but failed to complete the maneuver in time.
