ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 26. /TASS/. A Taganrog resident, Zhora Khachunts, who is accused of the theft of equipment from the Il-80 airborne strategic command and control post dubbed a ‘doomsday plane’ may face a punishment of 4.5 years in colony and reparation of damage to a sum of 2.7 million rubles (44,900 US dollars), his attorney Olga Boyarkina told TASS on Tuesday.

"The prosecutor demanded a punishment of 4.5 years in a high-security penal colony, without a fine. He also asked to satisfy the injured party’s civil suit to a sum of 2.7 million rubles," she said.

In early December 2020, a representative of the Beriev Aircraft Plant in Taganrog reported to the local transport police that it was revealed during an examination of one of the planes that its cargo door had been unsealed. A source in the regional law enforcement agencies said back then that 39 radio stations had went missing from the plane. A criminal case on theft charges was opened and Zhora Khachuts was detained.

Developed on the platform of the Il-86 civil aircraft, the Il-80 plane is an airborne strategic command and control post designed to be used to command the armed forces during a nuclear conflict. Four such planes have been taken into service.