Russia suspends top general after helicopter shot down

MOSCOW – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov today suspended a
general in charge of the air force for his role in a helicopter crash yesterday which killed at least 114 soldiers in Chechnya, RTR television reported.
The report said Colonel General Vitaly Popov was being suspended pending the conclusions of a report into yesterday’s shooting-down of a Mi-26 helicopter by Chechen rebels.
In a separate report, Interfax quoted military sources as saying Russian investigators have discovered a Strela missile launcher which Chechen rebels used to shoot down the helicopter.
The army has suspended all flights of the Mi-26 helicopters over Chechnya for the duration of the inquiry into the crash, Russia’s worst loss in its latest 35-month campaign in the separatist republic, RTR television said.