Murmansk Governor Andrei Chibis has confirmed that Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko was among those killed when an An-26 military transport plane crashed in Russian-occupied Crimea on March 31. There were no survivors.
Speaking at an April 6 operational meeting of the regional government, Chibis said those on board included “the fleet’s aviation commander, Alexander Ivanovich Otroshchenko, whom we had literally just seen a couple of days before,” the Russian news agency Interfax reported. Members of the Murmansk regional government observed a moment of silence in memory of those killed.
Chibis had previously said that the passengers on the An-26 were servicemen of the Northern Fleet, without providing further details.
BBC Russia’s Russian-language service reported on April 2, citing sources among Northern Fleet servicemen, that General Otroshchenko had been killed in the crash, but no official comment had been forthcoming at that point.
BBC Russia’s Russian-language service reported that Otroshchenko was the 14th Russian general killed since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
Otroshchenko had led the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps since 2024. At various points in his career he commanded the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet and the Northern Fleet, as well as the Northern Fleet’s 45th Air and Air Defense Army.
The An-26 crashed on March 31 in Crimea, with preliminary reports pointing to a technical malfunction. The aircraft struck a cliff, Russian state news agencies reported, citing sources. According to the Russian federal investigating authority, 30 people were on board. The Defense Ministry said 29 people had been killed — seven crew members and 22 passengers.
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