Among those dead was the Representative of the Russian President to the State Duma Mr. Aleksandr Kosopkin, the Head of the Altai Republic Game Management Agency Mr. Kaimin, two pilots, and one locally famous musician.
Conservationists claimed that the game being hunted (argali) would have been protected animals listed in the Red Data Book, which is a legally binding, full protection species fact sheet in Russian,[2] as well as the IUCN Red List Argali IUCN Factsheet.
There have been calls to the President of Russia and the State Chief Prosecutor to launch an investigation into this alleged case of poaching and corruption, which led to the fatal helicopter crash [1].
[3] WWF Russia and Greenpeace collected over 6000 verified signatures from the Russian public [2] as part of a petition demanding criminal investigation on poaching and corruption.
Despite the legal obligation that the criminal investigation on a reported case should be started within three days, there has been no public information or official announcements.