MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s opinion of the loss of the Ilyushin-20 plane over the Mediterranean relies on the Defense Ministry’s information, while Israel’s arguments are still to be examined by Russian specialists, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media.

"Our Defense Ministry and General Staff have information about every minute and every second of all flights in that area, first and foremost, about our plane’s flight. It is this information that the president relies on," Peskov said.

He recalled that Putin in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday accepted Israel’s proposal a delegation of experts under the Israeli Air Force Commander-in-Chief would bring its own data regarding the Ilyushin-20 incident to Moscow.

"For the time being they [Israel’s data] have not arrived. Our experts will certainly study them," Peskov said.

Asked if the Syrian side has shared its own data, Peskov said he knew nothing about that and the question should be addressed to the Defense Ministry. Asked if Syria’s President Bashar Assad had phoned Putin, Peskov answered in the negative, but remarked that there had been an official statement by Damascus on that score.

Tragedy over Mediterranean

According to the Russian Defense Ministry radio contact was lost with the crew of Russia’s Ilyushin-20 plane over the Mediterranean 35 kilometers away from Syria’s shore at about 23:00 Moscow time on September 17 as the plane was returning to the Khmeimim air base. The plane disappeared from radar screens while four Israeli fighter jets F-16 were attacking targets in Syria’s Latakia province.

The Russian Defense Ministry later said that the Ilyushin-20 was shot down by the Syrian air defense. Israeli air pilots used the Ilyushin-20 as cover, thus making it vulnerable to the S-200 air defense system, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It pointed out that Israeli air force command centers and F-16 pilots "could not but see the Russian plane, because it was approaching the base from an altitude of 5,000 meters." Yet they deliberately staged this provocation, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, adding that Russia interpreted Israel’s actions as hostile.

The Israel Defense Forces’ press-service issued a communique to express regret over the death of the Ilyushin-20’s crew.