US Mass Media: Ukrainian Authorities Consider Missile Launch From The Point Near Sevastopol As One Of The Versions Of The Tu-154 Crash

Ukrainian authorities informed the United States that they initiated " a massive investigation" into circumstances of the Russian aircraft crash. The RIA Novosti correspondent reported that such statement was made by the American "Fox-TV" company. With reference to high-ranking representatives of the White House and Pentagon the TV company reports that one of the working versions being investigated by Ukrainian authorities is that the Russian aircraft due to yet unknown reasons might be downed by a "surface-to-air" missile fired, supposedly, from the location near Sevastopol. The second version also being considered by Ukrainian authorities is the probability of the aircraft crash being a result of a terrorist act. The third version also being considered by Ukraine is the probability of the aircraft crash being a result of a certain "incident during the exercises". The American TV company reports that at present the American side keeps permanent contacts with the Ukrainian government trying to find out the details of the initiated investigation. An ABC TV company reported that in the exercises area a"flightless zone" was declared which, probably, turned out to be not big enough. At the same time the Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed to the Japanese agency "Kyodo Tsushin" that at the time the Russian aircraft crashed into the Black sea Air Defense forces of this country were conducting missiles firing practice. Nevertheless a representative of the press service refused to answer the question regarding the possible connection between these missile launches and the Russian aircraft accident.