Russian Military Jet Crashes with 91 Onboard

Local news agencies, citing the defense ministry, said the Tu-154 plane had crashed shortly after taking off from the southern city of Adler, south of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, at 5:40 am local time (0240 GMT), AFP reported.

It was conducting a routine flight to Russia's Hmeimim airbase outside the coastal Syrian city of Latakia, the ministry said.

"Fragments of the Tu-154 plane of the Russian defense ministry were found 1.5 kilometers from the Black Sea coast of the city of Sochi at a depth of 50 to 70 meters," the ministry said, adding that search and rescue groups had been dispatched earlier Sunday to locate the missing.

Among its 83 passengers were Russian servicemen as well as members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the army's official musical group internationally known as the Red Army Choir, who were headed to Syria to participate in New Year celebrations at the airbase.

There were also eight crew members onboard, the ministry said.

Nine members of the media were among the passengers, with state-run channel Pervy Kanal saying three of its staff were onboard the flight.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the situation and was being kept updated on the search operations.

Russia's Investigative Committee said that a criminal probe had been launched to determine whether violations of air transportation safety had led to the crash.

Investigators are currently questioning the technical personnel responsible for preparing the plane for take-off, the committee said.

Putin in October approved a law ratifying Moscow's deal with Damascus to deploy its forces in the country indefinitely, firming Russia's long-term presence in the country.

Russian warplanes have flown out of the Hmeimim base to conduct airstrikes in Syria against terrorists, and the base is also home to an S-400 air defense system.