as have the people in the press department who apparently condoned the pilot's actions.
It was not a press department. Statement was made by Director of air safety deparment Alexandr Koldunov and deputy to CEO/operations director Igor Chalik.
Both are also members of the board.
What is more astonishing is that these both persons hold commericial pilot licences:
Koldunov (born in 1952) in Aeroflot since 1976. Advanced from FO to Instructor pilot and head of safety department. Honoured pilot (state-award) of Russian Federation. Type-rated for IL-96 and B767 as instructor. Over 15 thousand flight hours.
Chalik (born in 1957) in Aeroflot since 1983. Used to be a pilot of TU-134, IL-86, A310, A320, A330 (chief pilot in AFL for A330). Honoured pilot (state-award) of Russian Federation. Around 14 thousand flight hours.
Source (in russian):
link
PS. Images are official and from Aeroflot website.
Koldunov and Chalik's statement (be prepared, you won't believe these words): There are no violations whatsoever and this can be clearly seen on the video - snow has been blown off instantly [really ?!] during takeoff roll and therefore definitely didn't affect aerodynamics [really ?!] and safety. Safety is our priority.
Link (in russian):
link
Needless to say that it was not blown off instantly (1), it was not blown off completely (2), it DID affect aerodynamics (deformed laminar flow thus increased stall speed, increased actual Vr speed and reduced critical AOA, among other things) (3), it also a clear violation of FCOM (4).
Clearly no pilot with a good state of mind will ever produce such a statement. They know it too, all this is - is an attempt to condone their pilots (or may be they genuinely think they are correct, who knows...). They given this statement thinking noone will dare to criticize it OR (which is more likely) noone in russia will ever appreciate how reckless such behavior is and therefore will never raise a concern (I did - sent them a link to youtube video with a word "shame"
After receiving this statement from them, i've written a summary of A320 FCOM and Aeroflot SOP violations and basic outline why it did affect aerodynamics. Never heard a word from them since.).