25 December 2016, 05:34 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry's Tu-154 aircraft en route to Syria with 92 people on board crashed into the Black Sea shortly after refueling at an airport in the Russian resort city of Adler. Fragments of the plane were discovered 1 mile from the sea shore of Sochi.
Most of the passengers were members of the famous army choir of the Russian armed forces, the Alexandrov Ensemble, who were traveling from Moscow to Hmeimim airbase in Syria to put on a New Year concert for Russian troops deployed there.
"My condolences to families and friends of victims of #Russia #Tu154 plane crash over the Black Sea," Rinkevics posted on his Twitter account.
