1970 Arrest of participants in the "aircraft case"

45 years ago, on June 15, 1970, a group of Jewish objectors was arrested at the Smolnoye airfield in Leningrad. They were going under the guise of passengers to arrive on an An-2 plane in the city of Priozersk in the Leningrad Region, seize this plane and fly to Sweden, where they would hold a press conference on the situation of Jews in the USSR. The group of failed hijackers was led by former civil aviation pilot Mark Dymshits and human rights activist Eduard Kuznetsov. In total, 16 people participated in the conspiracy.

The KGB became aware of this plan and the conspirators were arrested before boarding the plane. Dymshits and Kuznetsov were sentenced to death, replaced by 15 years in prison due to a powerful international campaign, the rest - to various terms of imprisonment. In 1979, Kuznetsov and Dymshits, among 5 Soviet dissidents, were exchanged for two Soviet spies who failed in the United States. In Israel, they were honored as heroes. The last of the "airmen", Alexei Murzhenko, was released only in 1987, after serving a total of 22 years in prisons and camps.