Experts have begun deciphering the black boxes from the fallen Il-76

РБК:  Black boxes from the Russian military transport aircraft Il-76, which crashed in the Belgorod region, were delivered to the laboratory of a specialized research institute. TASS and RIA Novosti write about this with reference to operational services.

This is about an on-board voice recorder and a device for recording flight parameters. Interlocutors of state agencies called the technical condition of the devices good; the source of the second agency estimated the time required for decryption at 20-30 minutes, but acknowledged the existence of exceptions.

“The last three minutes of the flight are important. The first thing that needs to be deciphered is the voice recorder,” the source emphasized. He explained that by the reaction of the pilots it will be possible to judge whether there was an external impact on the aircraft and at what moment.

Il-76 fell two days ago, on the morning of January 24. He was traveling from the Moscow region to Belgorod. The Russian side reported that there were 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war on board, who were sent for an exchange planned for the same day in the “192 for 192” format. Three accompanying persons and six crew members were also on the plane; no one survived.

The Russian Ministry of Defense blamed Ukrainian troops for the incident. According to Moscow, two anti-aircraft missiles were launched from the Kharkov region. The head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, spoke about the use of “three Patriot or IRIS-T missiles.” France Info, citing a source in French military circles, wrote that the plane was shot down by a Ukrainian missile fired from the Patriot air defense system.

Ukrainian Military Intelligence (GUR) reported that Kyiv was not warned about the routes and forms of delivery of prisoners, and was not notified of the need to ensure the security of the airspace near Belgorod for a certain period of time, “as has been done repeatedly in the past.” The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) opened a criminal case under Art. 438 on “violation of the laws and customs of war.”

Kyiv will insist on an international investigation into what happened, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky promised. The Kremlin promised to agree, but only on the condition that investigators initially define the disaster as a “crime of the Kyiv regime.”

The UN called on “to avoid further escalation” all parties to “refrain from actions, rhetoric and accusations that could further escalate” the conflict. The office of the organization's secretary general noted that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) cannot investigate the crash since the plane was military.