Vladimir Putin has claimed a military aircraft was shot down by an American missile system in Russia.
A Il-76 cargo plane Russia says was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners crashed near the city of Belgorod on January 24.
Speaking in a televised appearance on Wednesday, the Kremlin leader claimed: “The plane was shot down, it has already been established for certain, by an American Patriot system. This has already been established by forensics.”
Ukrainian officials have not said whether their military shot down the plane, but they called for an international investigation.
Independent verification of Moscow’s claim was not possible, though any mention of US in the context of the tragedy will be seen as a deliberate attempt by Putin to stoke tensions with the West.
All those on board, including the six crew members and three accompanying Russian Armed Forces officers, died.
The II-76 is a large Russian military transport plane, commonly used to carry soldiers, cargo and weapons.
The plane went down in a huge fireball near Yablonovo, Belgorod Oblast, Russia, killing all 74 people believed to have been on board, according to the Russian defence ministry.
However, Ukrainian military intelligence has said it does not have reliable information as to who was on board the aircraft.
