Ukraine ready to pay out compensations to families of victims of Tu-154 crash

On Monday, Russia and Ukraine begin negotiating for compensations to the families of passengers of the Tu-154 jet that was accidentally brought down by a Ukrainian missile on October 4, 2001.

Kiev has already announced its readiness to start negotiating for the size of the compensations. At least, that was what Sergei Borodenkov, the head of the press service of the Ukrainian foreign ministry, told journalists.

According to Borodenkov, Kiev is ready to discuss all the details of the judicial and financial aspects of the problem during negotiations on November 25 and 26.

The Tu-154, a jet belonging to the Russian airlines Sibir, was brought down by an S-200 missile that was launched during a Ukrainian air defense exercise above the Black Sea. The following crash killed 78 people - 66 passengers /mostly Russians and Israelis/ and 12 crew.

Alexander Chaly, State Secretary of the Ukrainian foreign ministry, announced on November 22 that Ukraine hoped it would manage to pay out all compensations during the year 2003.