Reports from russian state media announced the sentence of the military court in Murmansk to a couple of military officials responsible for the loss of a Tu-22M3 heavy bomber and a Kh-22 cruise missile. According to the plot of the case, in January 2019, the commander of the 40th Long-Range Aviation Regiment Vladimir Alekseenko and this unit's former flight manager Vladimir Stepanov allowed the landing of a Tu-22M3 in bad weather. The plane crashed, fire destroyed it together with the pricey missile, and three out of four crew members died.
Both of the convicts got unspecified suspended prison terms and, what's interesting here, were obliged to pay RUB 4.5 mln for the lost Tu-22M3 and the Kh-22 missile. Although so far no payment has been fulfilled yet because Alekseenko and Stepanov filed an appeal against the decision of the military court.
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This news is actually notable in two ways. The first is that, obviously, since 2019 the russians have managed to significantly improve the combat training of their long-range aviation personnel. An indicator is that, for example, during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there has been not a single recorded case of a russian strategic bomber crashing during a redeployment flight or combat sortie after launching missiles on Ukrainian territory.
The second perspective is the price put by russians on their own assets. The pricing is so arbitrary in nature depending on circumstances that there is practically no point in counting how much money russia loses in another series of strikes on Ukraine. Because when sometimes the objective figures tell one thing, the russians themselves seem to be sure it cost them nothing.
The ministry of defense of the russian federation wanted to fine those in charge of the Tu-22M3 crash RUB 97 mln, of which ₽12 mln is the cost of the Kh-22 missile lost in the fire. In 2019, the exchange rate was no more than 65 rubles per dollar. That means at that time, the defense ministry basically estimated the cost of the destroyed Tu-22M3, produced in 1986, and the Kh-22 at $1,300,000 and $180,000, respectively. It certainly looks too low of a price.
As for the actual sum of ₽4.5 mln voiced by the court, the equivalent in that-time exchange rate would be around $70,000. That makes an absolute nonsense.
There is also one more detail in this case that sheds light on the "flexibility" of the russian pricing process. The russian media said when the financial service of the Northern Fleet of the russian navy was involved in the judicial expertise for this plane crash, the experts initially evaluated the losses in zero rubles ("0") for both the aircraft and the missile. However, apparently after receiving instructions from high-ups, they changed the verdict and agreed with the figure of ₽97 million.
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