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Billionaire Oleg Deripaska has filed a lawsuit in the Arbitration Court of the Krasnodar Region against The Insider, its editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov, and investigative journalist Sergei Ezhov. Deripaska is demanding that The Insider retract information alleging his purchase and use of a Dassault Falcon jet worth 3 billion rubles (over $35 million in 2023), claiming it is false and damaging to his honor, dignity, and business reputation.
The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring The Insider to publish a retraction on Kommersant’s website and on its own YouTube channel within three days of the court ruling taking effect, as well as to remove Ezhov’s article from its website within ten days. If the defendants — meaning The Insider, Roman Dobrokhotov, and Sergei Ezhov — fail to comply, Deripaska insists on imposing a penalty of 10,000 rubles (just over $110) for each day of delay.
The lawsuit was launched with regard to The Insider’s investigation titled Soaring above sanctions: Miller, Timchenko, Deripaska, Rotenberg, and other Russian oligarchs buy parts for their private jets in the West — along with its Russian-language video version.
The proceedings will be chaired by Natalia Khakhaleva — sister of Elena Khakhaleva, who was dubbed the “golden judge” after holding a lavish $2 million wedding for her daughter in 2017. Elena Khakaleva, whose official salary in 2016 was 2,641,000 rubles ($43,300), was removed from her position in 2020 and charged with fraud in 2021. By 2022, she had fled to Armenia, and on Jan. 27, 2025, an Interpol notice prompted officials in Azerbaijan to detain her at passport control while attempting to board a Baku-Dubai flight. She was released from custody in early February and placed under police supervision, according to a report by the APA news agency. Her extradition is currently under review by Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor-General.
“With [Elena] unavailable, Deripaska has turned to her sister to handle the case!” — noted The Insider’s editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov.
The Insider’s investigation, parts of which were previously corroborated by the exiled independent publication Verstka, provides detailed evidence that Russian oligarchs continue servicing their private jets with Western-sourced parts despite international sanctions. The report specifically alleges that Deripaska went beyond mere maintenance and acquired an entire aircraft. The Insider found that in February 2023, the company Arsenal LLC (ООО «Арсенал») purchased a jet with the registration number RA-09618 for $35.8 million through the Kazakh firm Irtysh-Air.
The Insider uncovered that Arsenal, registered under a nominal owner, has a subsidiary in China called Beijing Jinsennade Trading, which imports goods for firms linked to aluminum giant Rusal. This connection, along with flight data showing that the aircraft's travel patterns match Deripaska’s movements, serves as further evidence linking the jet to the oligarch.
Deripaska’s travels on his new jet
According to border control records obtained by The Insider, Deripaska used the business jet identified in the investigation for multiple trips in 2023:
- Feb. 21-27, China.
- Mar. 28-Apr. 2, China.
- Apr. 16-23, India.
- Apr. 28-May 5, China.
- May 24-30, China.
- Jul. 26-30, China.
- Sept. 4, Kazakhstan.
Border control data from the FSB, obtained by The Insider, confirms Deripaska’s presence on board the jet during these flights.
Video investigation faced attempted block over two-second clip
Following the publication of The Insider's video report, the outlet's YouTube channel received a copyright strike from a person named Ruslan Stroganov, who accused it of infringement. Stroganov, who posts aviation-related footage on his channel, claimed that a two-second clip from his videos was used in The Insider's investigation. However, the publication successfully contested the strike, preventing the video from being taken down.