Ukrainian President Continues To Deny That Ukrainian Missile Shot Down Russian Tu-154 Plane

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has ordered the establishment of an interdepartmental commission to investigate all circumstances of the crash of Russia's Tu-154 passenger airliner which on October 4 fell into the Black Sea with 78 passengers on board, a spokesman for the Ukrainian president's administration said on Friday. He did not explain why Kuchma decided to set up the commission only now, rather than immediately after the plane was shot down. President Kuchma continues to deny Ukraine's responsibility for the tragedy, even after Prime Minister Kinakh admitted that a Ukrainian air defense missile might have shot down the Tu-154 and the commander of the Ukrainian Navy's air defense forces frankly said on the day when the plane crashed that the Tu-154 was destroyed by mistake by a Ukrainian air defense missile.