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Putin thanks Trump for offering assistance in investigating An-148 plane crash

The Russian president informed his US counterpart about the steps the Interstate Aviation Committee had been taking

© Alexei Nikolskiy/Russian Presidential press service/TASS

MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin in Monday’s phone call thanked his US counterpart Donald Trump for offering assistance in investigating the Antonov An-148 plane crash, Kremlin Spokesman Dmintry Peskov told reporters.

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"In this case, the president did indeed thank his US counterpart for conveying condolences over the recent aircraft crash," Peskov said. "As for the offer of assistance in the investigation, the president thanked him for it as well," he added. According to the Russian presidential spokesman, Putin also informed Trump about the steps the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) had been taking.

On the whole, the Kremlin spokesman described the telephone conversation as "constructive." He noted that Putin and Trump had touched upon the North Korea issue. "This issue was touched upon but there was no thorough exchange of views," he said without going into detail. When asked about the Syrian issue and media reports about Russian citizens killed in the conflict zone, Peskov said that "this issue was not discussed."

On February 11, an Antonov An-148 passenger aircraft, operated by Saratov Airlines, which was en route to the town of Orsk, crashed several minutes after taking off from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, killing all 71 people aboard. The aircraft wreckage was found near the Stepanovskoye settlement in the Ramensky District, Moscow region.

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