MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. Moscow insists on an international investigation into the crash of the downed Il-76 plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners, Russian presidential candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with his campaign agents.

"The Ukrainian authorities revealed that they would like to hold an international investigation. We ask for this and insist that there be an international investigation. There are no international organizations willing. Taking the opportunity, [I want to state] - we officially ask to send international experts and analyze this, assess the available evidence that the plane was shot down by a Patriot system from a specific site and at a specific time," Putin said.

"I have already said - there was a launch at 11:10 a.m. from territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. So, we ask international experts to come," he pointed out.

On January 24, the Ukrainian military shot down a Russian Il-76 military transport plane over the Belgorod Region. The aircraft was carrying captive Ukrainian soldiers who were supposed to be exchanged in a prisoner swap at the Ukraine-Russia border. The crash killed all 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian POWs. The Russian Defense Ministry described the incident as a terrorist attack, pointing out that Kiev had been aware of the mission to transport Ukrainian POWs for a prisoner swap, set to take place at the Kolotilovka checkpoint. However, Kiev attacked the plane in order to accuse Moscow of killing Ukrainian service members.