Associated Press

Director of Sibir Airlines Vyacheslav Filyov points at a hole in a fragment of the Tupolev 154 plane that crashed Thursday en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, in Sochi, Russia on Saturday.

Monday October 8, 2001

SOCHI, Russia - High-ranking Russian and Ukrainian defense officials headed to the Black Sea yesterday to investigate whether a Russian airliner was mistakenly shot down by a Ukrainian missile.

The search for bodies continued yesterday at the crash site of the Sibir Airlines Tupolev 154, and more relatives of the 78 victims arrived in the Black Sea city of Sochi where the investigation is based.

Over the weekend, Russia changed its position on the cause of Thursday's explosion and crash. It now appears willing to consider the U.S. contention that Ukraine accidentally shot down the aircraft during military exercises.

Vladimir Potapov, a deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, said Russian Defense Ministry experts were sent yesterday to help with the investigation, and that a Ukrainian military team led by a high-ranking general would arrive today.

President Vladimir Putin was dissatisfied with information provided by the Ukrainians and has asked for more details on Ukraine's military exercises, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Saturday.

The jetliner, en route from Tel Aviv to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, exploded and crashed into the sea 114 miles off the Russian coastal city of Adler, near Sochi.

U.S. intelligence officials have said the plane was hit by a Ukrainian missile during the military exercises, which took place 155 miles away. The missile was tracked by U.S. satellites.

Russia initially dismissed the U.S. contention, and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has repeatedly said a missile strike was impossible. However, Interfax news agency reported that Putin and Kuchma spoke by telephone on Saturday and agreed no theory should be ruled out.

A 21-member Israeli delegation arrived in Sochi yesterday to aid the investigation. Most victims were Russian-born Israeli immigrants, many of whom were headed back to Russia to visit relatives over the Sukkot holiday.

Igor Maslakov, Sochi's chief forensic expert, said the Israelis brought dental and fingerprint records to identify passengers.

The Israeli delegation included forensic experts and three Jewish military chaplains, one of whom carried a large box containing a Torah scroll. The rabbis were to observe Jewish funeral rites.

Dozens of relatives gathered at a Jewish community center for a prayer service led by one of Russia's chief rabbis, Rabbi Berl Lazar.

Salvage workers have recovered 14 bodies and the fragments of one other body. Eight have been identified, and five were confirmed to be Israeli citizens, said Leonid Baklitsky, the regional deputy governor in charge of the recovery operation.

Baklitsky said a boat bringing relatives of the victims to the crash site would arrive today.

Vladimir Rushailo, the head of the Russian Security Council, told reporters in Sochi on Saturday that objects that were not part of the plane had been found among the wreckage and were being examined. He refused to give details.

But Sergei Kargin, deputy head of the Sochi rescuers' service, described one object as a cylinder 55 to 66 feet long.

U.S. intelligence officials believe the plane was hit by a Ukrainian S-200, or SA-5, missile - a large surface-to-air missile built to shoot down heavy bombers flying at high altitudes.