Russia is ready to hand over to Ukraine the bodies of those killed in the crash of the IL-76

Russia is ready to hand over to Ukraine the bodies of the people who died in the crash of the Il-76 military transport plane in the Belgorod Region on January 24. This was stated by the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, Tatyana Moskalkova, RIA Novosti reported.

“For this, everything necessary from the point of view of the procedure is available… Bodies can be handed over according to existing procedures,” Moskalkova said.

She added that the Ukrainian side was interested in the possibility of transferring phones. According to Moskalkova, she is in contact with the representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Dmytro Lubynts, in the case of the crash of a military plane.

Moskalkova also stated that the Russian side has “confirmations and all the DNA, which, according to the expert’s conclusion, allow identification of the person.”

At the beginning of February, the representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Andrey Yusov, said that Kyiv had repeatedly approached Moscow about the return of the bodies of prisoners of war who, according to the Russian authorities, died in the crash of the IL-76. According to him, the Russian side did not respond to these appeals.

• On January 24, a Russian Il-76 military transport plane crashed in the Belgorod region. The Ministry of Defense of Russia claims that there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board, who were transported to Belgorod for exchange, as well as six crew members and three escorts. All of them, according to the department, died. The Russian authorities called the crash of the IL-76 a terrorist act, and blamed it on the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
• The GUR of Ukraine confirmed that the exchange of prisoners was supposed to take place on January 24, but noted that they had no data on whether there were servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on board.