Russian pilot Khartchevsky, who flew Putin to Grozny, has died.

In Russia, Major General Alexander Khartchevsky, a well-known test pilot and founder of the aviation group "Sokoly Rossii" (Falcons of Russia), has died. This was reported by the governor of the Lipetsk region Igor Artamonov.

Khartchevsky was born on May 9, 1950 in the city of Zhashkiv, Cherkasy region, Ukraine. He graduated from the Kharkiv Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots and the Gagarin Air Force Academy.

From 1972 to 1978, Khartchevsky served in the aviation units of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, then he was transferred to the Lipetsk aviation center. He served in Lipetsk from 1978, and in 1997 he headed the aviation center. In 2000 – the Lipetsk garrison.

In 1993, Khartchevsky became one of the founders of the aerobatic group "Sokoly Rossii" (Falcons of Russia), formed on the basis of the Lipetsk aviation center of the Russian Air Force. Its objective – to improve the skills of group fighter flights and demonstrate the maneuvering capabilities of the Su-27 fighters and the professional training of pilots. That same year, Khartchevsky was awarded the title "Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation".

In March 2000, it was Khartchevsky who flew then acting President Putin to Grozny on a Su-27 fighter from Krasnodar to Grozny, giving him control for eight minutes. At that moment, the Second Chechen War was ongoing. International media, and later the UN, called Grozny the "most destroyed city on Earth".

In 2015, Khartchevsky left the military aviation upon reaching the maximum age for military service. In 2016, he started working at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant.

We remind you that in January, Ukrainian troops shot down a Russian Il-22 aircraft over the Sea of Azov, resulting in the elimination of the aircraft commander, Major Viktor Klimov.