Aeroflot pilot makes anti-gay remarks and jokes about MH17 tragedy

A pilot on Russian national airline Aeroflot has been caught making racist and homophobic remarks on social media.

Oleg Bugaev, 30, repeatedly used offensive terms to describe the people of the Ukraine and joked about the MH17 tragedy and a helicopter being shot down.

The Daily Mail reports the captain branded Ukrainians “filth”, describing them as “scum” and “killers”.

He posted the remarks as he flew an Aeroflot jet over Ukraine.

Slovakian diplomat Martin Kaco then retweeted the comments saying: “En route by Aeroflot to VIE, captain to passengers ‘we fly over remnants of Ukraine, where Banderovtsi and other filth lives.’”

Apparently alluding to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who made his fortune in chocolate, he wrote: “Chocolate gay get off Donbass.”

He also posted an image of a man with a flag inserted into his bottom and branded with a swastika, alongside the caption: “Donetsk is not Kiev.”

Making light of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 tragedy which killed 298 people, including 10 Britons, Bugaev blamed the Ukrainian forces for the tragedy.

“The tradition of the Ukrainian army is to hit a plane once every 13 years,” he stated flippantly.

Aeroflot did not apologise for the outburst but five days after Kaco’s original complaint, they tweeted a reply.

“We’ve studied your message,” they wrote. “The fact was confirmed. The pilot had no right to express his personal opinion while on duty… In this case the pilot has violated our internal regulations. We have started the internal investigation.”

Using an online forum for flight crew Bugaev, who has been flying with Aeroflot since 2007, confessed that he was wrong to make the comments but claimed that he had been misquoted.

“I am that very captain who allegedly abused the Ukrainian people,” he wrote “My words were flipped 180 degrees. Abuse was added to them and even words I do not know.

He added: “I have discussed it with the management. Of course, I confess it that I was wrong. I violated Aeroflot’s standards by having added that we were flying over the remnants of Ukraine.”

• Dec 01 2023

16 TV stars you grew up watching who later came out as LGBTQ+