Moscow urges S. Sudanese authorities to carefully probe deaths of 4 Russians
MOSCOW. Jan 10 (Interfax) - Moscow is concerned about what it sees as procrastination in the inquiry into the circumstances of the deaths of four Russians in South Sudan at the end of December and is calling on the South Sudanese authorities to immediately and carefully investigate the crash of a civilian helicopter.
"The Russian Foreign Ministry is seriously concerned about the procrastination in the inquiry into the circumstances of the deaths of four Russian crewmembers of a civilian Mi-8 helicopter shot down in South Sudan on December 21, 2012, who had worked under a contract with the UN mission in that country," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement on Thursday.
"We expect that, in line with a UN Security Council demand that the causes of the catastrophe be investigated speedily and thoroughly, those responsible called to account, and the necessary measures taken to prevent such incidents in the future, the South Sudanese party will immediately take all the necessary steps to ensure a full, unbiased, and prompt investigation into the circumstances of the tragic death of the Russian citizens," it said.
The ministry says a commission including representatives of the Nizhnevarvoskavia airline and the UN aviation safety authorities has been set up to investigate the incident in South Sudan. However, this commission has still been unable to start working due to the absence of South Sudanese experts, Lukashevich said. "For the same reasons, Russia has still not been provided with the black box from the shot-down helicopter to retrieve information from it," he said.
