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Military operation in Ukraine

State Duma to seek facts from US, Germany following IL-76 crash — speaker

During the plenary session, Head of the Duma Defense Committee Andrey Kartapolov noted that the plane with Ukrainian prisoners of war on board could have been shot down by missiles from the American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system or the German IRIS-T

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, will prepare an appeal to the US Congress and the German Bundestag in order to find out which missiles could have caused the crash of the Il-76 plane in the Belgorod region, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said.

"There is a proposal to figure out what missiles and launchers were used. Let’s prepare an appeal to the US Congress and the German Bundestag so that the deputies can finally see who they are funding and who they are helping. This is a Nazi regime. <…> They must realize their responsibility, and parliament members must impeach them," Volodin said.

The State Duma Speaker enlisted head of the Duma Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, to help with the appeal at a plenary session of the parliament house.

During the plenary session, Kartapolov noted that the plane with Ukrainian prisoners of war on board could have been shot down by missiles from the American Patriot anti-aircraft missile system or the German IRIS-T.

"They shot their own soldiers in the air. <...> They shot the defenseless pilots of our military transport aircraft, who were carrying out a humanitarian mission. With American and German missiles," Volodin stressed.

On Wednesday, at about 11:00 a.m. Moscow time, the Il-76 crashed in the Belgorod Region. The plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war who were on their way to the Belgorod Region for a hostage exchange, as well as 6 crew members and 3 escorts, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The causes of the disaster have not yet been determined. A commission of the Russian Aerospace Forces has flown to the site of the plane crash.

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Foreign policy Military operation in Ukraine

Middle East conflict

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