Private plane sold in Lithuania and bound for Russia detained in Helsinki

VILNIUS - A Lithuania-registered private Beechcraft aircraft set to fly to Pskov, Russia, was detained at Helsinki Airport in early December on suspicion of attempting to circumvent sanctions, the public broadcaster LRT's investigative journalism team reported on Wednesday.

The aircraft had not yet taken off as of Tuesday. Finnish officials made no comment but did not deny that the Lithuania-registered plane had been detained.

The plane was sold to new owners with the help of Rytis Dulinskas, an employee at the Lithuanian Transport Competence Agency. The aircraft was piloted by Lithuanian and Latvian citizens en route to Russia.

One of them is Robertas Petkus, a Lithuanian who piloted an aircraft from Kaunas Airport to Russia last April. The plane was later put up for sale in Moscow. Petkus was also involved in the case of a Cessna aircraft detained in Palanga in March 2023.

According to LRT, the Beechcraft aircraft with the Lithuanian LY-ARA registration was put up for sale in Vilnius, with Dulinskas and Aviacom listed as the contacts in the ads. He owns 50 percent of the company's shares.

Dulinskas told LRT that he had nothing to do with the aircraft and had only helped a friend sell it. He said the plane was purchased by a Latvian citizen, who might have acted as an intermediary, with an unnamed Cypriot company also involved in the purchase.

Roberts Klimovics confirmed to the public broadcaster that he had helped his relatives in Latvia to buy the aircraft and that it was headed to Russia to reach Kazakhstan. The Latvian citizen said he had contacted Finnish prosecutors about the plane's detention.

LRT was unable to reach Petkus for comment.

Last year, the LRT investigative journalism team reported several attempts to use Lithuanian airspace and airports in Europe to fly sold planes to their buyers in Russia. As a result, a stricter procedure for non-commercial flights has been in place since May 2023.