Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

EXCLUSIVE: Grant Shapps in ‘secret communication’ over sanction-busting Russia flight from Inverness

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

A Tory minister discussed sensitive information linked to a controversial flight from Inverness to Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine, we can reveal.

The “secret communications” involved Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and featured confidential information shared by at least one unnamed foreign country.

However, the UK Government is refusing to publicly release the memos, saying it could damage diplomatic relations connected to Russia’s invasion.

In the wake of the revelation, Inverness SNP MP Drew Hendry said the circumstances surrounding the mysterious flight were getting “murkier and murkier”.

He urged Mr Shapps to explain why the private charter was allowed to depart the Highland capital on February 26.

Inverness Airport

Flight mystery

A family of three was believed to have been on board the Estonian-registered Panaviatic jet when it left Inverness bound for Moscow’s Vnukovo airport.

On social media, Mr Shapps publicly accused Inverness Airport of having “failed to comply” with a ban on Russia flights, which was introduced through a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) the day before the departure.

However, he faced calls to apologise to the airport after we revealed the flight was cleared for take-off by the UK Government’s Border Force, the police’s Special Branch and air traffic controllers.

Now it has emerged Mr Shapps was privately discussing sensitive information in connection to the flight at around the same time.

Air traffic control exchange, which we previously revealed.

While the Scottish Government has released its ministerial communications about the flight under freedom of information laws, the UK Government has twice refused.

It initially said it would be too expensive and time-consuming to disclose the correspondence.

Our second FOI request only asked for the disclosure of Mr Shapps’ communications relating to the flight on February 26, 27 and 28 this year.

This whole episode gets murkier and murkier.”

Drew Hendry MP

But in response, the Department for Transport (DFT) said: “To release this information could have detriment to the UK’s world standing and ongoing diplomatic relations relating to the wider Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The detriment would be caused by countries not trusting the UK with their information and in some cases be in breach of international conventions of sharing information between countries.”

The DFT also said releasing the communications would be of detriment to the “free and frank advice given to the minister to aid collective ministerial decision making at a Cabinet committee”.

Drew Hendry MP.

Mr Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, has previously written to Mr Shapps demanding answers about the Moscow flight.

On the latest development, he said: “This whole episode gets murkier and murkier – the UK Government has now confirmed it has secret communications relating to this private jet flight from Inverness to Moscow but is refusing to release the material.

“Grant Shapps must not only apologise for scapegoating Inverness Airport, he must also explain why this flight was allowed to take off in the first place.

“For as long as Tory ministers continue to keep the details of this flight secret from the public, suspicion will rightly grow as to what they have to hide.”


Where did the jet go?

The plane left the Highland capital just two days after Russia invaded Ukraine and only 12 hours after a ban on Russian flights came into force.

The jet travelled from Moscow to Geneva then onto Amsterdam on February 25.

It flew to Inverness, Moscow and back to Geneva on the following day

We previously reported that Panaviatic, the charter company, was linked to a bank at the centre of an Estonian money laundering probe.

On June 30, the SNP challenged Mr Shapps about the flight during a Commons exchange.

The Conservative minister said: “As a pilot, I understand how NOTAMs – notices to aviation – work: they are the responsibility of either the pilot or the aviation operator, which in this case was the airport, to follow.

“There is simply no excuse for not following them.”