Siberia Airlines Flight 1812

Initial information

Flight 1812 departed Tel Aviv with destination Novosibirsk. It proceeded at an altitude of 36,000 ft over the Black Sea when the Russian ground control center in Sochi suddenly lost contact with the airliner. Soon afterward, the pilot of an Armenian plane crossing the sea nearby reported seeing the Russian plane explode before it crashed into the sea about 1:45 PM Moscow time (9:45 AM GMT). Most of the passengers were Israelis visiting their relatives in Russia. No one on board survived. A national day of mourning was instituted in Israel—with a moment of silence, flags at half-mast, and schools teaching special lessons on the tragedy. A monument to the victims was built in Ben Shemen forest in Israel.

Shootdown

Occurring less than a month after the 11 September 2001 attacks, the crash was initially suspected by Russian officials to be an act of terrorism by Chechen rebels.

Later, the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee ruled that the crash was caused by an accidental Ukrainian or Russian S-200 missile strike during military training exercises, staged off that time Rusian millitary base Cape Onuk (or Chuluk) in Crimea, Ukraine. A preliminary Russian report confirmed initial private assessments of American Military officials that the S-200 missile overshot its target drone—which had been destroyed successfully by an S-300 fired at the same time—and instead of self-destructing, locked in on the passenger plane 150 miles further away and exploded as a ball of Shrapnel shells 50 feet over the plane.

Russian officials initially dismissed the American claim as "unworthy of attention," and Russian President Vladimir Putin told the press the next day that

"the weapons used in those exercises had such characteristics that make it impossible for them to reach the air corridor through which the plane was moving."

Ukrainian military officials initially denied that their missile had brought down the plane; they reported that the S-200 had been launched seawards and had successfully self-destructed. Indeed, Defense Ministry spokesman Konstantin Khivrenko noted that

"neither the direction nor the range (of the missiles) correspond to the practical or theoretical point at which the plane exploded."

However, Ukrainian officials later admitted that it was indeed military from Ukraine territory that shot down the airliner. Ukrainian officials speculated that water interference caused the missile to veer off course.Ukraine reportedly banned the testing of Buk, S-300 and similar missile systems for a period of 7 years following this incident.

Compensation payments

Compensation to Israeli citizens

On 20 November 2003, an ex gratia compensation agreement was signed between the governments of Ukraine and Israel. It was later ratified by the relatives of the victims who agreed to the conditions. In addition to compensation issues, the agreement has stated that

"Ukraine is not legally responsible for the accident that occurred to the plane and free of any obligations regarding it".

Commenting on the agreement, Gen. Oleksandr Kuz'muk, the ex-Minister of Defense sacked after the accident, told media that

"the payments were a humane action, not the admission of guilt".

Later as a deputy prime minister in the government of Viktor Yanukovych, Kuzmuk denied that the Ukrainian military was responsible for the shoot-down over the Black Sea, due millitary training was conducting from Russian held base.

Compensation to Russian citizens

Ukraine agreed to pay the family of each of the 38 Russian citizens killed the sum of $200,000 – the same amount agreed over each of the 40 Israelis killed. The settlement was ratified by the Russian parliament in May 2004 and president Putin signed it into law in June 2004.

Additional compensation claims by relatives and Siberian Airlines Pechersk local court

Some relatives of the crash victims refused to accept the compensation offered by Ukraine. They brought a civil suit against the Ukrainian government to Pechers'ky local court in Kiev. During the court hearings, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence representatives stated that the airplane

"could not be brought down by a Ukrainian missile"

according to the forensic examination of the plane's debris, radar information and technical capabilities of the missiles. 

None of the 11 forensic examinations carried out so far have proven the probability of hitting the Tupolev-154 by a BUK missile.

Appeals in courts

On 22 August 2007 Kiev Appeals Court has dismissed the victims' relatives suit against the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, ruling that military of Ukraine bear no liability for the accident. The court decision conflicts with report of the IAC group which had investigated the accident on Russia's behalf.

Siberian Airlines lawsuit

In 2003–2005, the Ukrainian government paid $15.6 million in compensation to the relatives of the victims.

In 2004, Siberian airlines filed a lawsuit, against Ukrainian defense ministry and the Ukraine State Treasury, at a Kiev court seeking more than $15.3 million in compensation for the loss of the passenger jet. However, the Kiev Interregional Commercial Court of Appeal, in September 2011, rejected a compensation claim from the Russian airline. An appeal to Kyiv's Economic Court of Appeals was rejected, in May 2012. The ruling was further upheld, in December 2012, by Ukraine's Supreme Commercial Court.

As of January 2013 the court proceedings continued.

On 27 July 2014, - 10 days after Russian BUK from occupied by Russia Ukrainian territory hit Malyasian Airlines Jet MH17, case of 1812 was closed in Russia. Probably, the similarities of both accidents could reveal, that actually MH17 accident is not the 1st time, when Russia is responsible for hitting civil airplane.