(RUSSIA) – A Russian military transport aircraft added to the growing list of Kremlin assets that have abruptly stopped working, after an Antonov An 22 crashed this week in what witnesses described as a mid air breakup followed by a plunge into a reservoir. As with many Russian military incidents, even the location had remained disputed, with reports pointing vaguely to either Moscow region or Ivanovo.
Video footage circulating online shows the aircraft’s tail section separating in mid air before the rest of the plane followed it into the water. All seven people on board are believed to have been killed. Russian officials have so far offered little clarity, a familiar silence that usually signals embarrassment rather than secrecy.
The An 22, often described as the world’s largest turboprop aircraft, was once marketed as a triumph of Soviet engineering. Built in the 1960s by Ukrainian designers, it was intended to showcase industrial power and technical confidence. Today, it has become a flying museum piece, operated by a Russian military that appears determined to demonstrate how even solid engineering can be undone by neglect, corruption and indifference.
