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Russian lawmakers to call on US Congress to hold those behind Il-76 downing responsible

Supporting the neo-Nazi ideology and encouraging it "in Ukraine only provokes the Kiev clique to continue terror and escalate violence, while pushing the world closer to a global catastrophe," the document reads

MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Members of the State Duma intend to call on US lawmakers to condemn Kiev’s crimes and hold those who carried out the terrorist act in which the Russian Il-76 plane was downed responsible, according to a draft address to US Congress.

"State Duma members call on members of US Congress to condemn crimes of Kiev’s terrorist regime, stop supporting it and contribute to holding those who committed the inhuman terror attack responsible," the document reads. In it, Russian legislators describe the attack on the aircraft as "deliberate murder since the prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine had been pre-arranged."

Supporting the neo-Nazi ideology and encouraging it "in Ukraine only provokes the Kiev clique to continue terror and escalate violence, while pushing the world closer to a global catastrophe," Russian lawmakers said.

Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced earlier that legislators would consider a draft address at a plenary meeting of the lower house of Russia’s parliament on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it had already been established that Ukraine used a US-made Patriot system to shoot down the Russian Il-76 plane with Ukrainian POWs last week.

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.