“For me, it’s a sore subject when journalists make such statements who do not own information at all,” he stressed in a conversation with RT.

On the air of the program, Latynina called Yaroshenko “a sad clown who boasted to everyone around that he worked with Booth.” She also noted that the pilot "endlessly reasoned that he would bring cocaine," however, instead of the allegedly expected proceeds from the sale of drugs, Yaroshenko "got his 20 years for the United States taking this whistle for Viktor Bout’s real right hand."

“All these millions of dollars, cocaine - the business was fabricated initially. I didn’t even have the word “drugs”; only the possibility of transporting diplomatic mail to one of the countries of America was discussed. But some media outlets doused me and my family anyway. For ten years I have been laundering and trying to achieve justice, ”he said.

The Russian stressed that he was in Liberia “not for the sake of drug negotiations,” but to inspect the plane that he was sold there.

The records used in court, according to the pilot, were made illegally.

Yaroshenko also commented on Latynina’s mention of his cooperation with Viktor Bout, a Russian convict in the United States.

“From the very beginning, when the case was brought against me, I was in no way connected with Victor - either directly or indirectly. Perhaps the employee of the American Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was the same one who participated in the detention of Viktor Bout. Everything I knew about him was from the news. I heard about him like any other ordinary viewer. I keep in touch only with my wife and daughter, ”he said.

Earlier, Yaroshenko's wife, Victoria, commented on RT's words to Latynina.

Konstantin Yaroshenko was arrested in 2010 in Liberia during an operation by American intelligence agencies. His arrest was the first time that a Russian citizen was captured in a third country and taken to the United States.

Before that, Yaroshenko had never been to the United States and had not committed crimes elsewhere. An American court sentenced the pilot to 20 years in prison in a drug smuggling case.