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Russia’s Defense Ministry to publish on Sunday detailed information on warplane crash

The minute-by-minute timeline of the tragedy will be given with a presentation of objective data from the radars’ data handling system about the air situation, the ministry told
Russia’s Defense Ministry Sergey Fadeitschev/TASS
Russia’s Defense Ministry
© Sergey Fadeitschev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry will publish on Sunday detailed information on circumstances behind the downing of the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 military plane off Syria on September 17, the ministry told reporters on Saturday.

"The minute-by-minute timeline of the tragedy will be given with a presentation of objective data from the radars’ data handling system about the air situation in Syria on September 17 and actions of Israel’s air force in the area of the crash," the ministry said.

On September 17 night, a Russian Ilyushin 20 (IL-20) military surveillance turboprop plane was shot down over the Mediterranean at a distance of 35 kilometers off the Syrian coast, when it was returning to the Russian air base Hmeymim. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the aircraft was brought down by a Syrian S-200 surface-to-air missile system when the Syrian air defense opened fire at four Israeli F-16 fighter jets in response to their strikes on facilities in Syria’s Latakia province. The defense ministry pointed out that Israel’s F-16 fighter jets used the Russian IL-20 as cover and put it in the line of fire. The tragedy claimed the lives of 15 Russian military personnel.