Former head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko has been detained on suspicion of fraud committed by an organized group on an especially large scale, RBC sources in law enforcement agencies reported. The Khoroshevsky District Court of Moscow will consider the investigation's petition for the arrest of the ex-official for two months on July 3.

Neradko headed Rosaviatsia from 2009 to 2023. In September 2023, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin dismissed him from his post, after which he became an advisor to the CEO of the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLC).

During Neradko's tenure, the agency's activities repeatedly attracted the attention of law enforcement. In 2022, criminal cases were initiated against Rosaviatsia employees, and in the autumn, after searches, the head of the higher qualification commission department, Maxim Pavlyuk, was arrested. In December, Alexander Matyushkin, an employee of the digital transformation department, was detained in a bribery case.

Earlier, Rosaviatsia was searched due to the illegal withdrawal of 59 aircraft from Russian jurisdiction between March 2022 and June 2023. According to the Ministry of Transport, 36 aircraft were deregistered due to sales abroad, with 21 aircraft acquired by residents of non-EAEU states, and eight sold to unfriendly countries.

Izvestia sources reported that among the illegally exported aircraft were Il-76 planes and Mi-8 helicopters. According to the publication, three helicopters participated in hostilities on the enemy's side, and Il-76s performed flights with transponders turned off to conceal their routes.

This is not the first detention among former high-ranking Rosaviatsia employees. In 2025, former deputy head of the agency Sergey Timoshenko was arrested, accused of receiving bribes totaling over 4 million rubles for patronage during the construction of facilities in the Bryansk region.