Russian Plane Carrying Parachutists Crashes, 16 Killed

The wreckage of the L-410 plane is seen at the crash site near the town of Menzelinsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia October 10, 2021. (Russia’s Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
The wreckage of the L-410 plane is seen at the crash site near the town of Menzelinsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia October 10, 2021. (Russia’s Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
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Russian Plane Carrying Parachutists Crashes, 16 Killed

The wreckage of the L-410 plane is seen at the crash site near the town of Menzelinsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia October 10, 2021. (Russia’s Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)
The wreckage of the L-410 plane is seen at the crash site near the town of Menzelinsk in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia October 10, 2021. (Russia’s Emergencies Ministry/Handout via Reuters)

A plane carrying a group of parachute jumpers crashed in the Russian region of Tatarstan on Sunday, killing 16 people and injuring six, the Emergencies Ministry said.

The aircraft, which came down near the city of Menzelinsky, had been carrying 20 parachutists and two crew members. Six people were in a serious condition, the Health Ministry said.

A Let L-410 Turbolet twin-engine short-range transport aircraft, the plane was owned by an aeroclub in the city of Menzelinsk, the TASS news agency reported.

Cosmonauts use the area for training and the aeroclub has hosted local, European and world championships, the club's director Ravil Nurmukhametov was quoted by TASS as saying.

The state-run Cosmonaut Training Facility has suspended its ties with the aeroclub pending an investigation, TASS cited a source as saying.

The RIA agency cited local authorities as saying one of the engines could have failed.

Photographs of some of the parachutists on board posing in kit or with a plane were circulated on the REN TV channel and on social media.

Russian aviation safety standards have been tightened in recent years but accidents continue to happen, particularly in remote regions.

An ageing Antonov An-26 transport plane crashed in the Russian far east last month killing six people. All 28 people on board an Antonov An-26 twin-engine turboprop died in a crash in Kamchatka in July.



Kremlin Says Europe Will Feel the Recoil from Its 'Illegal' Sanctions on Russia

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the heads of international news agencies at the newly renovated St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the heads of international news agencies at the newly renovated St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Kremlin Says Europe Will Feel the Recoil from Its 'Illegal' Sanctions on Russia

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the heads of international news agencies at the newly renovated St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the heads of international news agencies at the newly renovated St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The Kremlin said in remarks published on Sunday that the tougher the sanctions imposed on Russia by Europe, the more painful the recoil would be for Europe's own economies as Russia had grown resistant to such "illegal" sanctions.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered a wave of Western sanctions on Russia and it is by far the most sanctioned major economy in the world.

The West said that it hoped its sanctions would force President Vladimir Putin to seek peace in Ukraine, and though the economy contracted in 2022, it grew in 2023 and 2024 at faster rates than the European Union.

The European Commission on June 10 proposed a new round of sanctions against Russia, targeting Moscow's energy revenues, its banks and its military industry, though the United States has so far refused to toughen its own sanctions.

Asked about remarks by Western European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron that toughening sanctions would force Russia to negotiate an end to the war, the Kremlin said only logic and arguments could force Russia to negotiate.

"The more serious the package of sanctions, which, I repeat, we consider illegal, the more serious will be the recoil from a gun to the shoulder. This is a double-edged sword," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television.

Peskov told state television's top Kremlin correspondent, Pavel Zarubin, that he did not doubt the EU would impose further sanctions but that Russia had built up "resistance" to such sanctions.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any additional EU sanctions on Russia would simply hurt Europe more - and pointed out that Russia's economy grew at 4.3% in 2024 compared to euro zone growth of 0.9%.