MOSCOW, December 22 - RAPSI. The court has sentenced former Chkalovsky Airport General Director Anton Kulikov for stealing money from the Estonian Tallship limited partnership , the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Thursday.

“It has been established that Kulikov, when he served as the airport’s first deputy general director and acted on the basis of a power of attorney, deceived the partnership’s management by stating that the GAK 224 Air Unit could make a charter flight using АN-124-100 Ruslan aircraft,” the prosecutor's office said.

Kulikov produced forged documents executed on the carrier’s behalf and entered into a cargo transportation contract with Tallship in late March 2009.

Tallship paid over $286,000 to the airport upfront. Meanwhile, the air carrier did not receive any orders from the airport and the plane was being repaired as of 2008.

In April 2009, Kulikov sent to the customer a forged 2.28 million ruble ($72,000) payment order for fuel purchases to simulate flight preparations. The partnership then paid another $286,680 to the airport for its services.

Kulikov was kept in custody from October 2009 to April 2010. However, after amendments to criminal procedure legislation, the court changed the measure of restraint to release on bail.

Kulikov then escaped.