REVIEW - Russia Pins Blame For Il-20 Plane Crash On Israel With New Data

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2018) The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday reiterated accusations against Israel of being responsible for a crash last week of a Russian Il-20 spy plane off Syrian coast that killed 15 service members.

The ministry's spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said new data obtained from powerful S-400 radars at the Hmeimim airbase in western Syria gave a second-by-second account of the air disaster, leaving no doubt about what caused Syrian air defenses to fire on the Russian plane.

All contact with the Il-20 was lost on its way to the airbase from a mission off Latakia coast just as four Israeli F-16 fighter jets were conducting an air raid on Syrian targets in the area.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it was notified about the attack only a minute before it began. It accused Israel of misleading it about the location of targets and F-16s, saying a fighter deliberately put the Il-20 under the attack of Syria's S-200 weapons.

Israel has denied the allegations, saying the jets had been back in Israeli airspace when the tragedy took place. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, said he was confident of the findings by Israeli army investigators.

The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman presented fresh evidence of Israel's guilt at a news briefing on Monday. He said this was, among other things, in response to attempts by the Israeli military to "distort the events."

The new data, he said, showed on a second-by-second basis how the tragedy unfolded, including positions of Israeli fighters, the Russian plane and the trajectory of the Syrian missile that hit it.

"Today's data no longer suggests, but clearly proves that the blame for the tragedy involving the Russian Il-20 aircraft lies entirely with the Israeli air force and with those who authorized this kind of activity," Konashenkov told reporters.

He went on to make a presentation of data collected earlier in the day from Russia's S-400 fire control systems in Hmeimim. The data was shown on two screens, one presenting the targets by their azimuth and distance from the observer, and the other by their altitude and distance.

"The screen clearly shows the flight path of the S-200 missile launched by the Syrian air defenses, as well as the position of Russian and Israeli aircraft.

It is quite clear that the missile's trajectory is aimed at an Israeli aircraft," Konashenkov said, commented on the image.

At 22h 01 min 17 sec on September 17, the four Israeli F-16s took their position at the altitude of 7 kilometers (23,000ft) and higher, the next slides showed, with one jet flying at 9 to 10 kilometers (about 32,500ft) and sharing the azimuth with the Russian Il-20 around the time of the incident.

The imagery also captured an S-200 missile flying toward that jet's position. Konashenkov said its trajectory went over both the Israeli and the Russian aircraft, which flew lower than the F-16.

At 22h 02 min 07 sec the missile's homing device reacquired the target with a larger effective reflecting surface and a lower speed, which was the Il-20, the spokesman said. "The missile, approaching the Israeli aircraft, dramatically changed the flight path and flew towards the IL-20," he added.

The Russian plane was struck at 22h 02 min 45 sec, he said. "After hiding behind the Il-20, the Israeli F-16 stayed in the patrol area, west of the Syrian coast." Other jets stayed in position too.

"The Russian Il-20's mark vanished from the screen. I want to draw your attention to the fact that Israeli F-16s stayed in the area, one of them in close proximity to the site of the tragedy," the ministry's spokesman said, adding that after the Russian plane was hit one Israeli jet immediately climbed higher and changed the path of its flight.

The air raid was conducted close to Hmeimim runways, used both by military and passenger planes, he emphasized. "Hence, all timid claims by the Israeli military that it had no role in the deaths of 15 Russian service members are false," Konashenkov concluded.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has meanwhile announced plans to equip Syrian air defense forces' command posts with automatic control systems, jam satellite navigation, on-board radars and communication systems of combat aviation attacking Syrian targets and, most importantly, supply S-300 air defense systems to Syria in order to boost the security of Russian forces in Syria.