Russia formally blames Ukraine for airliner crash
Russia today formally blamed Ukraine for the crash of a Russian airliner over the Black Sea, saying the jet was downed by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.
The chairman of the state commission investigating the accident, Security Council secretary Vladimir Rushailo, said the S-200 missile was fired from the Black Sea’s Crimean Peninsula during air defence exercises.
It covered 154 miles within 220 seconds and exploded 15 yards above the Tu-154 aeroplane, which was en route from Israel to Novosibirsk in Siberia, Rushailo said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Though investigators have long blamed a missile, it was the first time that Russia specifically said a Ukrainian missile fired during the Crimean exercise was responsible.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, who has tried to prove that the missile theory was impossible, admitted over the weekend that he never had any doubts about the plane being brought down by an S-200.
Ukrainian legislators have voted for an inquiry into whether Kuzmuk and his top aides lied about the circumstances of the crash and should face criminal prosecution for that.
But despite Kuzmuk’s admission of deceit and resignation offers, Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma says he will only fire him if Ukrainian investigators find the minister responsible.
Ukraine’s national security chief Yevhen Marchuk, who participated in the Moscow commission meeting today, said experts wanted to see further ‘‘facts and calculations’’ but noted that Kiev was ‘‘not disputing’’ the Russian version.
All 78 people on board, most of them recent Russian immigrants to Israel, were killed in the October 4 crash. The remains of 15 people were recovered.
