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Causes behind warplane crash in Russia's south unclear for now — source

A Sukhoi-25 fighter-bomber crashed on Monday in Russia’s Stavropol Territory

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. The causes of Monday’s crash of a Sukhoi-25 fighter-bomber in Russia’s Stavropol Territory remain unclear for now, a source in the panel of inquiry probing into the incident has told TASS.

"The causes are unknown for the time being. It is to be hoped that the black boxes will help find out what caused the crash. The flight data and voice recorders are intact, although the plane fell apart," the source said, adding that it was to be established why the pilot did not survive.

The plane crashed near the Budyonnovsk airbase in the evening of February 29 during a training flight. It carried no weapons.

It was a second crash of a Russian Air and Space Force plane this year (following the fall of a MiG-31 interceptor in Siberia) and the first Sukhoi-25 crash since the autumn of 2013, when a plane of that type crashed in the Krasnodar Territory. The other Sukhoi-25 jets have not been grounded, the source said.