Aeroflot flight attendant denounced by coworkers, forced to quit over anti-war posts

Aeroflot flight attendant was forced to quit after 11 years of work after posting in a private chat he did not want to lose his job because of the war in Ukraine, Baza reports.

The 33-year-old flight attendant worked in the “privileged” 11th department, whose employees are assigned to the most “lucrative” flights. Later, he was promoted to senior flight attendant and began talking with other employees in a private flight crew chat with about 200 users. After the Russian invasion began in late February, he suggested that losing one’s job because of a pandemic was different from losing it because of a war.

At the end of May, a chat user denounced the flight attendant by sending a screenshot of his message to the management of the onboard service department and Aeroflot’s security service. After that, the man was “taken to task” and forced to resign. He was told that the reason for his dismissal was that he “works for a state-owned company and must be in agreement with everything that is going on.” The flight attendant had to resign “by mutual agreement of the parties,” in a manner which cannot be appealed in court. According to Baza, the man does not want to work in the industry anymore.

After the start of the war, Roskomnadzor demanded that the Russian media exclusively use the term “special operation” when covering the invasion of Ukraine. In Russia, criminal cases are being opened en masse in connection with “fakes” about the Russian army (Article 207.3.2(e) of the Criminal Code).