Russian military officials die in helicopter crashRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus - Russian military helicopter Mi-8 carrying senior Russian interior ministry officers was shot down by a missile, Ichkerian colonel Abdulkadyr Izraylov informed. He insists that the shot-down was a well-planned operation performed by the fighters of the Chechen field commander Hasan Dolguyev and that it was a part of the Chechen combat against the enemy Russian military.
The helicopter flew from the military base Khankala and was shot down near Shelkovskaya, northeast of Grozny. All of the fourteen people aboard perished, including deputy interior minister general Mikhail Rudchenko, deputy commander-in-chief of Russian interior forces general Nikolay Garydov. According to witnesses, the helicopter caught fire on the outer side in height of about 100 metres and then crashed on a field. The cause of the accident has not been established yet. Russian authorities tend to blame a technical defect. Another version might be an explosion of a hand grenade dropped by accident by one of the security guards aboard.
The crash in Shelkovskaya reminds many people of a similar accident in Minutka, near Grozny last November that was shot down by Chechen missile. The crash claimed lives of two defense ministry generals and eight colonels who came to Chechnya to start cooperation between the military and the Chechen government.
The version of the helicopter being shot down by a missile has not been confirmed by any evidences so far. According to the technical command of the helicopter´s regiment the helicopter was in a perfect technical condition.
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