MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. Western countries are unwilling to take part in an international investigation into the downing of a Russian Il-76 plane by Ukrainian forces because they are afraid of being implicated, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing in response to a TASS question.

He added that the West has had its fingerprints on the Ukraine conflict since the start. "The [Russian] president openly and publicly said yesterday that we were prepared for an international investigation into this heinous act and that we were interested in such a probe," Peskov pointed out. "Now, we hear the Europeans say that there should be an official document and without it, they won’t consider anything." "None of them would be interested in carrying out an investigation that would point back at them," the Kremlin spokesman said. "The position of the collective West, which is a direct party to the armed conflict, is perfectly clear," he added.

On January 24, the Russian Il-76 military cargo aircraft was downed by a Patriot missile system stationed on the Ukrainian side of the border. The aircraft was carrying captive Ukrainian military personnel who had been slated to be exchanged in a prisoner swap. The crash killed all 74 people on board, including 65 Ukrainian POWs. The Russian Defense Ministry slammed the incident as a terrorist attack. An investigation is underway. Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that Moscow insisted on an international investigation into the plane crash.