Leonid Kuchma Hears Reports Made By Russian And Ukrainian State Commissions Investigating Tu-154 Crash Over Black Sea

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma heard the reports made by the Russian and Ukrainian state commissions investigating the circumstances that had caused the Russian TU-154 airliner's crash over the Black Sea last month. He did not, however, express any opinions or made any comments, participants of the Ukrainian President's meeting with heads of the two state commissions told RIA Novosti. Leonid Kuchma charged the Ukrainian commission investigating the causes of the crash with the task "of finalizing the procedure pertaining to payment of the due financial compensation as well as developing, jointly with the Russian side, a set of measures designed to preclude recurrence of similar incidents in the future". He also expressed his sincere gratitude to the Russian experts and spoke highly of the Russian commission's performance. The meeting was attended by the Secretary of RF Security Council Vladimir Rushailo (head of the Russian state commission), Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Dubina (head of the Ukrainian state commission), Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Evgeny Marchuk, and Chairwoman of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) Tatyana Anodina. Speaking to journalists after his meeting with Leonid Kuchma, Vladimir Rushailo said that both the IAC technical commission and the RF state commission for investigating the causes of the TU-154 crash came to the conclusion that the airliner had indeed been hit by an S-200 missile launched in the course of the military exercises conducted by the Ukrainian Anti-Aircraft Defence Force in the Crimea on 4 October 2001.