The Il-76TD belonged to Aviakon Tsitotrans, a company linked to the Wagner Group and closely cooperating with the Russian state. The plane departed from Russia on October 20 and landed in the Venezuelan capital on October 26 of the same month, after stopovers in North Africa. 2 days later, she flew to Havana, Cuba, and then to the capital of Nicaragua, Managua. On 29 October, the aircraft arrived in Caracas again and began its return flight to Moscow the next day. Alexei Zhuravlev's message to the Gazeta.ru portal took place on November 1 this year, saying that Venezuela's air defence has been reinforced with "Pantsir-S1 and Buk-M2E systems." In his opinion, these systems were to be delivered "recently" on board Il-76 aircraft.
