Black Sea

A Russian military aircraft crashed into the Black Sea yesterday killing all 92 passengers on board. The Russian defence ministry said that the plane disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from Sochi at 05:25 (02:25 GMT), heading for Latakia in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the relatives of the passengers. “I want to express my most sincere condolences to the families of our citizens who died in the plane crash in the Black Sea this morning. The government will do everything to provide support.

A Russian military plane carrying 92 people, including dozens of Red Army Choir singers, dancers and orchestra members, crashed into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff from Sochi on its way to Syria on Sunday, killing everyone on board, Russian authorities said. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry said one of its TU-154 Tupolev planes had disappeared from radar screens at 0525 MSK (9.25 p.m. ET), two minutes after taking off from Sochi in southern Russia, where it had stopped to refuel from Moscow on route to Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned  NATO’s insufficient military presence in the Black Sea and has urged the Alliance to enhance cooperation in the area. He said he was going to ask the alliance to address the issue during an upcoming summit in Warsaw as there was a need to counter the Russian military presence there. RT reports: “I told him [NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg]: ‘You are absent from the Black Sea. The Black Sea has almost become a Russian lake,’” Erdogan said at a meeting of heads of general staff of Balkan nations in Istanbul on Wednesday.