Investigative Committee has also retrieved the video of the Tu-154 plane landing at the Sochi airport as well as video showing the plane taxing toward the parking stand.
New eye witnesses of Tu-154 crash questioned
http://tass.com/world/922846
"New eye witnesses of the crash have been found and questioned, one of the witnesses made a video of the plane taking off and crashing into the sea," she said. "Apart from this video, the video of the Tu-154 plane landing at the Sochi airport as well as videos showing the plane taxing toward the parking stand and its passengers going through passport control, were also retrieved by investigators."
Over 90 people have been recognized as aggrieved parties in the crash case. "The lists have been forwarded to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Federal Labor and Employment Agency so that insurance payments could be made," the spokesperson added.
According to her, in the past 24 hours, the seabed at the crash site was examined using submersibles. A boat crane was used to retrieve fragments of the fuselage and one of the engines as well as one of the flight data recorders which has been delivered to Moscow for deciphering. Thousands of the recovered fragments of the victims’ clothes and belongings have been examined.
Besides that, in Petrenko’s words, "the area stretching from the Sochi International Airport to the coastline has been scoured, police have been knocking on doors in the area trying to find eye witnesses."
Fuel samples have been sent for investigation, a number of other tests are underway in order to establish all circumstances surrounding this tragic accident, Petrenko said. The victims’ bodies have been delivered to Moscow for identification, she added.
A source close to the investigation has told TASS the plane’s pitch angle was too high and it was being rocked from side to side.
Source says military Tu-154 plane crashed at 510 kilometers per hour
http://tass.com/world/922808
The Russian Defense Ministry’s Tupolev-154 plane that crashed into the Black Sea on December 25 was trying to make a right turn seconds before the disaster. It was flying at a speed of 500 kilometers per hour with its nose high up, a source in the law enforcement has told TASS.
"The crash occurred while the pilots were retracting spoilers (when extracted the spoilers increase the plane’s airlift - TASS). For yet to be established reasons the plane’s pitch angle was too great. Apparently the plane deviated from its designated path while making a right turn. As a result it flew into the water at a speed of about 510 kilometers per hour," the source said.
A source close to the investigation has told TASS the plane’s pitch angle was too high and it was being rocked from side to side. The pitch angle is the angle between the plane’s longitudinal axis and the horizontal plane. If the angle is too high, the plane’s nose is too high and the plane may lose the airlift.
Sources do not rule out that the plane may have crashed as a result of a combination of several factors, including the crew’s error and problems with one of the engines.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said earlier that no evidence had been found linking the crash to terrorism.
Source says no signs of explosion, fire on board crashed TU-154 detected
http://tass.com/world/922696
No signs indicating that an explosion or a fire had occurred on board of the Tu-154 plane before it crashed into the Black sea, have not been detected, a security source told TASS.
"After examining the recovered fragments of the plane, no signs of an explosion or a fire have been detected," the source said.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said earlier that no evidence had been found linking the crash to terrorism. "The four main versions are an engine being hit by a foreign object, substandard fuel that caused the loss of thrust on and eventually stopped the engines, the pilot’s mistake and the plane’s technical failure," the FSB said.
Apart from that, according to the source, divers have lifted 70 more fragments of bodies.
Body of crashed Tu-154 pilot in command lifted from sea bottom — source
http://tass.com/world/922592
The body of the ill-fated Tu-154 pilot in command, Roman Volkov, has been lifted by divers from the sea bottom, a source in the law enforcement agencies told TASS on Monday.
"When large fuselage fragments were lifted, one more body was found. When lifted the body was identified as the plane’s pilot in command Roman Volkov, judging by the insignia," the source said.
Apart from that, according to the source, divers lifted 70 more fragments of bodies
French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo published several caricatures connected with Russia in its latest issue.
Russian Defense Ministry comments on Charlie Hebdo's caricatures of Tu-154 crash
http://tass.com/politics/923106
It is "humiliating for a normal person" to pay attention to caricatures on the Russian Tu-154 plane crash over the Black Sea published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Russian Defense Ministry's official spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.
"It is humiliating for a normal person to even pay attention to such a poorly-created abomination," Konashenkov said. "If such, I dare say, 'artistry' is the real manifestation of 'Western values', then those who hold and support them are doomed ― at least to loneliness in the future," he added.
"It is not surprising that some of our ‘compatriots’ quieted down though they have just recently posed in selfies wearing ‘Je suis Charlie’ T-shirts," he noted.
French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo published several caricatures connected with Russia in its latest issue. The last issue of this year that has hit the shops today contains caricatures of the Russian Defense Ministry's Tu-154 plane crash in Sochi and of the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov.
This is not the first time that Charlie Hebdo has published controversial caricatures connected with Russia. In November 2015, the magazine published drawings on the Russian Kogalymavia's A321 plane crash in Egypt that killed 224 people. The caricature drew sharp criticism from Russia. Reacting to the emerging debate on the matter, the French Foreign Ministry said that the country's leadership has nothing to do with the activities of the magazine and that the employees of the weekly are free to express their own opinions. In October 2016, the magazine published caricatures of the opening of the Russian Orthodox Cultural Center in Paris.
In January 2015, terrorists attacked the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 people (10 employees of the magazine and two security officers) and injuring another 11. The terrorist attack prompted the "Je suis Charlie" movement in solidarity with the killed journalists and in support of the freedom of speech. The movement spread beyond France and across the world.
