Russian businessman who sold arms to Congo was on board Il-76 downed in Sudan – Reuters

The Il-76 aircraft shot down in Sudan on 21 October could have been carrying Russian businessman Viktor Granov, who is involved in arms sales in the Republic of Congo and has links to Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Source: Reuters

Details: Among the wreckage, authorities found a work ID, a South African driver's licence, and an expired passport belonging to 67-year-old Viktor Granov.

According to the report, in 2005, human rights organisation Amnesty International linked Granov to the activities of Viktor Bout, the notorious Russian arms dealer released as part of a prisoner exchange between Russia and the US in 2022.

Granov was said to have managed two aviation companies accused of violating arms embargoes on deliveries to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Another crew member is believed to be 33-year-old Anton Selivants, whose Russian passport was also found at the crash site. Social media images show Selivants posing in front of Il-76 aircraft bearing the logo of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Ethiopian airports. However, the WFP stated that Selivants was not one of their crew members or contractors. His wife also did not respond to requests for comment.

The third suspected crew member is 61-year-old Russian Aleksandr Kabanov, who was identified in a video found among the wreckage. Kabanov, a former paratrooper in Russia’s Airborne Forces, had worked in several African countries, including Uganda, Sudan and South Sudan.

Background: On 21 October, a cargo plane from the UAE with part of the crew reportedly being Russian was shot down in Sudan, where a civil war is ongoing.

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