Photo: VKontakte
Eight Russian military personnel were killed in the September 29 crash of a Tu-95MS strategic bomber in Russia’s Amur region, rather than the six initially reported, according to Mediazona and The Insider.
The aircraft crashed near the village of Krasnoyarovo in the Mazanovsky district. The full list of those aboard became known after a local community published photographs of the victims. Mediazona verified that all eight had served in Russia’s strategic aviation units.
According to an OSINT analyst cited by Mediazona, the photographs appear to list the personnel in the order normally used for Tu-95MS crews. Two of the eight victims were likely passengers or inspectors rather than regular crew members.
The identified crew members were:
- Major Andrei Lobanov, Tu-95 squadron commander and aircraft commander;
- Senior Lieutenant Vladislav Moskovskikh, co-pilot;
- Captain Artur Yenokyan, navigator;
- Lieutenant Mikhail Kotyshev, navigator-operator;
- Captain Sergei Monsevich, flight engineer;
- Major Vladimir Kelip, radio operator.
Also aboard were Lieutenant Colonel Fyodor Pavlyukov, deputy regiment commander for flight training, and Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Gerasimov, a Tu-95 squadron commander.
The Insider compared information about the victims with the Ukrainian “Russian Torturers” database. According to that database, at least three of the officers — Lobanov, Pavlyukov and Gerasimov — were associated with Tu-95MS combat missions against Ukraine or their preparation. These allegations come from the Ukrainian database and have not been independently established by The Insider.
Most of the victims had previously served at the Engels air base in Russia’s Saratov region. Russia began moving strategic aircraft from Engels after Ukrainian drone attacks on the base, while the Ukrainka air base in Russia’s Far East became increasingly important for its remaining long-range aviation following Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb, according to The Insider.
Russia’s Defense Ministry initially said the Tu-95MS crashed during a training flight and that six crew members had died, with another serviceman hospitalized. Russian officials later said the aircraft was flying without ammunition and crashed in an unpopulated area.
A preliminary investigation cited by Kommersant identified a technical malfunction as a possible cause, but The Insider noted that Russia has not publicly confirmed the final cause of the crash.
