VILNIUS, September 23 (RIA Novosti, Vladimir Vodo) - Lithuanian authorities will decide on the fate of the pilot of the Russian fighter that crashed over Lithuania last week after NATO experts conclude on whether the incident was intentional, the Lithuanian deputy prosecutor general said Friday.
"If their conclusions are enough to charge Troyanov with intentional violation of international air traffic regulations, an indictment will be filed and the case will be handed over to the court," Gintaras Jasaitis said. "If no evidence is collected to that effect, the case will be dropped with all the ensuing consequences, including Troyanov's release."
If the case were closed, Jasaitis said damage repayment would be either considered under Lithuania's civil code or through negotiations between the two countries. Since the Russian Defense Ministry is the owner of the crashed fighter, it will have to be the defendant in the case, he said.
The fighter, flying from St. Petersburg to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, crashed last Thursday after what Moscow says was a failure of the plane's navigation equipment. The pilot, Major Valery Troyanov, managed to safely eject and no one was hurt in the incident.
