Alexander Otroshchenko, commander of the 45th Army of the Northern Fleet’s ​Air Force and Air Defence, died in the ​crash, Andrei Chibis, governor of the northern Murmansk ⁠region where the fleet is based, was quoted ​as saying.

The An-26 military transport plane crashed into a ​cliff in Crimea on March 31. Russia’s Defence Ministry said shortly afterwards that the preliminary cause was a technical malfunction.

The An-26 has ​been in service since the late 1960s and ​has also been used by airlines to carry freight, but the ‌model ⁠has been involved in a number of deadly crashes over the last decade.

A Ukrainian An-26 crashed during a flight in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region in 2022, ​killing one ​person.

Another ⁠aircraft crashed on a training flight in northeastern Ukraine in 2020, killing all but ​one of the 27 people on board.

Eight ​people, ⁠including five Russians, were killed when an An-26 crashed in South Sudan in 2020.

Four of 10 people ⁠on ​board were killed when an ​An-26 crashed on landing in Ivory Coast in West Africa in 2017.