LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Twenty three expelled Russian diplomats and their families flew out of London on an Ilyushin-96 plane on Tuesday.

The state-owned Russian plane, with “Rossiya” and the white, blue and red of Russia’s flag emblazoned on its side, made a special flight from Moscow to London’s Stansted airport to collect the diplomats.

Prime Minister Theresa May blamed Russia for this month’s attack on a Russian double-agent and his daughter - the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War Two - and gave 23 Russians whom she said were spies working under diplomatic cover one week to leave London. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison) </s> The Russian embassy has accused British authorities of "another blatant provocation" after an Aeroflot flight was allegedly searched by Border Force officers at Heathrow.

An embassy official suggested that the jet, which had arrived from Moscow on a scheduled return trip, had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the Salisbury spy poisoning.

A file image of an Aeroflot jet on the runway after landing at London's Heathrow International Airport. Photo: Suzanne Plunkett/Bloomberg News.

The row intensified on Friday after the Kremlin ordered Britain to reduce the number of diplomats in Moscow down to the same amount that Russia has in London.

It came as ambassadors from more than 20 countries were called into the foreign ministry in Moscow to be told of the latest wave of retaliatory measures being imposed.

As the crisis notched up the Russian embassy in London said British officials had searched an Aeroflot jet that had landed at Heathrow from Moscow.

According to an embassy officer Border Force and customs officers at first tried to search the plane without the crew, although the captain was eventually allowed to be present.

"Today, we have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities," the official said.

"Border Force and Customs officers have searched the aircraft that was conducting the Aeroflot flights 2582 / 2583, Moscow - London - Moscow. This kind of event is extraordinary."

The Metropolitan Police, which is coordinating the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, denied it was part of the search.

The Russian embassy said it had complained to British counterparts and called for an explanation.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Laurie Bristow, the UK ambassador in Moscow, was among those called into the foreign ministry in Moscow on Friday.

He told reporters: "It is important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen in the first place.

"It's the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the United Kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country.

"We asked certain questions of the Russian state and have still not received adequate answers."

Russia has told a number of countries - including Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia - they must send home the same number of diplomats as they had ordered to leave their nations.

So far, more than 150 Russian diplomats, some of whom are suspected spies, have been told to return home by the UK's allies.

The Russian Embassy said on Friday it "insists" on the right to see Ms Skripal, 33, after it emerged on Thursday she was improving rapidly.

She spent three weeks in a critical condition after being exposed to Novichok on March 4.

Ms Skripal's father remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

On Friday afternoon, the Russian Embassy published a list of 27 questions it claimed it had for the British authorities over the treatment of the Skripals.

The list included demands to know the exact nature of their condition and how they were being treated, and whether British doctors' approach "helped or harmed" the Skripals.

It also claimed Mr Skripal's niece had been inquiring after her uncle's health but that she had been ignored by the Foreign Office, and wondered why no images or footage of the Skripals alive in hospital had been published.

Scotland Yard believes Mr Skripal and his daughter, who was visiting him from Russia, first came into contact with the deadly chemical at his home.

Detailed forensic testing revealed the highest concentration of Novichok was found on the front door.

The vast attempted murder investigation continues to unfold in the Wiltshire city, most recently leading police to cordon off a children's play area at Montgomery Gardens.

Detectives said traces of the nerve agent had been found at some of the other scenes where investigations had been carried out, but at lower concentrations.

Efforts will now focus in and around the address, and specialist teams will step back from some of the other areas investigated over the past few weeks.

Mr Skripal and his daughter have been patients at Salisbury District Hospital since they were discovered unconscious on a park bench close to The Maltings shopping centre nearly four weeks ago.

Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was also exposed to the nerve agent, was discharged from the hospital last week. </s> The Russian embassy has accused British authorities of “another blatant provocation” after an Aeroflot flight was allegedly searched by Border Force officers at Heathrow.

An embassy official suggested that the jet, which had arrived from Moscow on a scheduled return trip, had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the Salisbury spy poisoning.

The row intensified on Friday after the Kremlin ordered Britain to reduce the number of diplomats in Moscow down to the same amount that Russia has in London.

It came as ambassadors from more than 20 countries were called into the foreign ministry in Moscow to be told of the latest wave of retaliatory measures being imposed.

As the crisis notched up the Russian embassy in London said British officials had searched an Aeroflot jet that had landed at Heathrow from Moscow.

According to an embassy officer Border Force and customs officers at first tried to search the plane without the crew, although the captain was eventually allowed to be present.

“Today, we have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities,” the official said.

“Border Force and Customs officers have searched the aircraft that was conducting the Aeroflot flights 2582 / 2583, Moscow – London – Moscow. This kind of event is extraordinary.”

The Metropolitan Police, which is coordinating the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, denied it was part of the search.

The Russian embassy said it had complained to British counterparts and called for an explanation.

“At this moment, we have no other explanation but that the incident at Heathrow is in one way or another connected with the hostile policy that the UK government is conducting with regard to Russia,” the official said.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Laurie Bristow, the UK ambassador in Moscow, was among those called into the foreign ministry in Moscow on Friday.

He told reporters: “It is important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen in the first place.

“It’s the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the United Kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country.

“We asked certain questions of the Russian state and have still not received adequate answers.”

Russia has told a number of countries – including Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia – they must send home the same number of diplomats as they had ordered to leave their nations.

So far, more than 150 Russian diplomats, some of whom are suspected spies, have been told to return home by the UK’s allies.

The Russian Embassy said on Friday it “insists” on the right to see Ms Skripal, 33, after it emerged on Thursday she was improving rapidly.

She spent three weeks in a critical condition after being exposed to Novichok on March 4.

Ms Skripal’s father remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

On Friday afternoon, the Russian Embassy published a list of 27 questions it claimed it had for the British authorities over the treatment of the Skripals.

The list included demands to know the exact nature of their condition and how they were being treated, and whether British doctors’ approach “helped or harmed” the Skripals.

It also claimed Mr Skripal’s niece had been inquiring after her uncle’s health but that she had been ignored by the Foreign Office, and wondered why no images or footage of the Skripals alive in hospital had been published.

Scotland Yard believes Mr Skripal and his daughter, who was visiting him from Russia, first came into contact with the deadly chemical at his home.

Detailed forensic testing revealed the highest concentration of Novichok was found on the front door.

The vast attempted murder investigation continues to unfold in the Wiltshire city, most recently leading police to cordon off a children’s play area at Montgomery Gardens.

Detectives said traces of the nerve agent had been found at some of the other scenes where investigations had been carried out, but at lower concentrations.

Efforts will now focus in and around the address, and specialist teams will step back from some of the other areas investigated over the past few weeks.

Mr Skripal and his daughter have been patients at Salisbury District Hospital since they were discovered unconscious on a park bench close to The Maltings shopping centre nearly four weeks ago.

Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was also exposed to the nerve agent, was discharged from the hospital last week. </s> The Russian embassy has accused British authorities of “another blatant provocation” after an Aeroflot flight was allegedly searched by Border Force officers at Heathrow.

An embassy official suggested that the jet, which had arrived from Moscow on a scheduled return trip, had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the Salisbury spy poisoning.

The row intensified on Friday after the Kremlin ordered Britain to reduce the number of diplomats in Moscow down to the same amount that Russia has in London.

It came as ambassadors from more than 20 countries were called into the foreign ministry in Moscow to be told of the latest wave of retaliatory measures being imposed.

As the crisis notched up the Russian embassy in London said British officials had searched an Aeroflot jet that had landed at Heathrow from Moscow.

According to an embassy officer Border Force and customs officers at first tried to search the plane without the crew, although the captain was eventually allowed to be present.

“Today, we have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities,” the official said.

“Border Force and Customs officers have searched the aircraft that was conducting the Aeroflot flights 2582 / 2583, Moscow – London – Moscow. This kind of event is extraordinary.”

The Metropolitan Police, which is coordinating the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, denied it was part of the search.

The Russian embassy said it had complained to British counterparts and called for an explanation.

“We asked certain questions of the Russian state and have still not received adequate answers.”

“At this moment, we have no other explanation but that the incident at Heathrow is in one way or another connected with the hostile policy that the UK government is conducting with regard to Russia,” the official said.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Laurie Bristow, the UK ambassador in Moscow, was among those called into the foreign ministry in Moscow on Friday.

He told reporters: “It is important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen in the first place.

“It’s the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the United Kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country.

“We asked certain questions of the Russian state and have still not received adequate answers.”

Russia has told a number of countries – including Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia – they must send home the same number of diplomats as they had ordered to leave their nations.

So far, more than 150 Russian diplomats, some of whom are suspected spies, have been told to return home by the UK’s allies.

The Russian Embassy said on Friday it “insists” on the right to see Ms Skripal, 33, after it emerged on Thursday she was improving rapidly.

She spent three weeks in a critical condition after being exposed to Novichok on March 4.

Ms Skripal’s father remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

On Friday afternoon, the Russian Embassy published a list of 27 questions it claimed it had for the British authorities over the treatment of the Skripals.

The list included demands to know the exact nature of their condition and how they were being treated, and whether British doctors’ approach “helped or harmed” the Skripals.

It also claimed Mr Skripal’s niece had been inquiring after her uncle’s health but that she had been ignored by the Foreign Office, and wondered why no images or footage of the Skripals alive in hospital had been published.

Scotland Yard believes Mr Skripal and his daughter, who was visiting him from Russia, first came into contact with the deadly chemical at his home.

Detailed forensic testing revealed the highest concentration of Novichok was found on the front door.

The vast attempted murder investigation continues to unfold in the Wiltshire city, most recently leading police to cordon off a children’s play area at Montgomery Gardens.

Detectives said traces of the nerve agent had been found at some of the other scenes where investigations had been carried out, but at lower concentrations.

Efforts will now focus in and around the address, and specialist teams will step back from some of the other areas investigated over the past few weeks.

Mr Skripal and his daughter have been patients at Salisbury District Hospital since they were discovered unconscious on a park bench close to The Maltings shopping centre nearly four weeks ago.

Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was also exposed to the nerve agent, was discharged from the hospital last week. </s> MOSCOW — Two Russian pilots safely landed an airliner carrying 233 people in a cornfield outside Moscow after striking a flock of birds, prompting the Kremlin to hail them as heroes who will receive top state awards.

Russians have said it was a miracle that no one was killed when the Ural Airlines Airbus 321 came down in a field southeast of Moscow with its landing gear up after hitting a passing flock of gulls, disrupting the plane’s engines.

Up to 74 people, including 19 children, were treated for injuries, six of whom have been hospitalized, Russian news agencies quoted the emergencies ministry as saying.

State television said the incident was being dubbed the “miracle over Ramensk,” the name of the district near Moscow where the plane came down around one kilometer (0.62 miles) from Zhukovsky International Airport.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid praised pilot Damir Yusupov as a “hero,” saying he had saved 233 lives, “having masterfully landed a plane without its landing gear with a failing engine right in a corn field.”

Some drew comparisons with U.S. Airways Flight 1549 which performed a landing on the Hudson River in New York in 2009 after striking a flock of geese.

“We congratulate the hero pilots who saved people’s lives,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the Kremlin would see that the men were quickly given state honours. “There’s no doubt about this. They will be given awards.”

The plane’s engines were turned off when it executed the emergency landing and it also had its landing gear up, according to Elena Mikheyeva, a spokeswoman for Russia’s civil aviation authority.

Footage shot by passengers showed the flight lasted less than two minutes and that the engines had experienced difficulties almost immediately after take-off.

Vitya Babin, 11, who was on the plane with his mother and sister, said passengers had not been warned there was going to be an emergency landing. There was silence in the cabin and then screams began when it touched down, footage showed.

“We were not warned,” said Babin.

An unnamed passenger interviewed by state television said the plane had started to shake moments after it took off.

“Five seconds later, the lights on the right side of the plane started flashing and there was a smell of burning. Then we landed and everyone ran away,” he said.

Passengers were evacuated via escape slides and were told to distance themselves from the plane.

“One of the stewardesses said there was smoke coming from the plane and we immediately panicked. We ran after one of the men. He said follow me,” Babin said.

A local resident quoted by radio station Govorit Moskva said the gulls that struck the plane had probably come from an illegal rubbish dump near Zhukovsky airport.

Moscow region officials, however, rejected that assertion and said the nearest rubbish dump to the airport was 14 kilometers away, TASS news agency reported.

The plane was due to fly to Simferopol in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

Safety concerns have plagued Russia’s airline industry since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, though standards are widely recognized to have sharply risen on international routes in particular in recent years. </s> MOSCOW -- A Russian passenger plane believed to be carrying 71 people crashed Sunday afternoon near Moscow, shortly after takeoff from one of the city's airports. No survivors were immediately reported.

The An-148 regional jet disappeared from radar screens a few minutes after departing from Domodedovo Airport en route to the city of Orsk, some 1,500 kilometres (1,000 miles) southeast of Moscow. The plane reportedly belonged to Saratov Airlines, a Russian commercial carrier.

Plane fragments were found in the Ramenskoye area about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the airport. Footage on state television showed them strewn across a snowy field with no buildings nearby. It was unclear if there were any casualties among people on the ground at the crash site.

Russia's Investigative Committee said all possible crash causes were being looked into.

Shabby equipment and poor supervision had plagued Russian civil aviation for years after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but its safety record has improved markedly in recent years.

The last large-scale crash in Russia occurred on Dec. 25, 2016, when a Tu-154 operated by the Russian Defence Ministry on its way to Syria crashed into the Black Sea minutes after takeoff from the southern Russian city of Sochi. All 92 people on board were killed.

In March 2016, a Boeing 737-800 flown by FlyDubai crashed while landing at Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 people aboard.

An onboard bomb destroyed a Russian Metrojet airliner soon after taking off from Egypt's Sharm al-Sheikh resort, killing 244 people in October 2015. </s> Russians hailed a miracle on Thursday after a passenger plane carrying 233 people made an emergency landing in a corn field on the outskirts of Moscow after striking a flock of birds shortly after take-off.

The Ministry of Health said 23 people had suffered injuries, but that nobody had been killed when the Ural Airlines Airbus 321 came down in a field southeast of Moscow after striking a flock of gulls, disrupting its engines.

State television said the maneuver was being dubbed the “miracle over Ramensk”, a reference to the district of Moscow region where the plane came down more than 1 km (0.62 miles) from Zhukovsky International Airport.

The Interfax news agency cited a source as saying one person had suffered serious injuries.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid lauded pilot Damir Yusupov as a “hero,” saying he had saved 233 lives, “having masterfully landed a plane without its landing gear with a failing engine right in a corn field.”

Some drew comparisons with US Airways Flight 1549 which performed a landing on the Hudson River in 2009 after striking a flock of geese.

The engines were turned off when it made the emergency landing and it also had its landing gear up, said Elena Mikheyeva, a spokeswoman for Russia’s civil aviation authority.

An unnamed passenger interviewed by state television said the plane had started to shake violently shortly after take-off.

“Five seconds later, the lights on the right side of the plane started flashing and there was a smell of burning. Then we landed and everyone ran away,” he said.

The plane was due to fly to Simferopol in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

Safety concerns have plagued Russia’s airline industry since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, though standards are widely recognized to have sharply risen on international routes in particular in recent years. </s> The Russian embassy has accused British authorities of 'another blatant provocation' after an Aeroflot flight was allegedly searched by Border Force officers at Heathrow.

An embassy official suggested that the jet, which had arrived from Moscow on a scheduled return trip, had been searched in connection with the diplomatic crisis over the Salisbury spy poisoning.

The row intensified on Friday after the Kremlin ordered Britain to reduce the number of diplomats in Moscow down to the same amount that Russia has in London.

It came as ambassadors from more than 20 countries were called into the foreign ministry in Moscow to be told of the latest wave of retaliatory measures being imposed.

As the crisis notched up the Russian embassy in London said British officials had searched an Aeroflot jet that had landed at Heathrow from Moscow.

According to an embassy officer Border Force and customs officers at first tried to search the plane without the crew, although the captain was eventually allowed to be present.

'Today, we have witnessed another blatant provocation by the British authorities,' the official said.

'Border Force and Customs officers have searched the aircraft that was conducting the Aeroflot flights 2582 / 2583, Moscow - London - Moscow. This kind of event is extraordinary.'

The British government did not immediately comment on the embassy's complaint.

The Metropolitan Police, which is coordinating the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, denied it was part of the search.

The Russian embassy said it had complained to British counterparts and called for an explanation.

'At this moment, we have no other explanation but that the incident at Heathrow is in one way or another connected with the hostile policy that the UK government is conducting with regard to Russia,' the official said.

The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia with the nerve agent Novichok.

Laurie Bristow, the UK ambassador in Moscow, was among those called into the foreign ministry in Moscow on Friday.

He told reporters: 'It is important to bear in mind why this crisis has arisen in the first place.

'It's the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of the United Kingdom that has threatened the lives of a number of people in my country.

'We asked certain questions of the Russian state and have still not received adequate answers.'

Russia has told a number of countries - including Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia - they must send home the same number of diplomats as they had ordered to leave their nations.

So far, more than 150 Russian diplomats, some of whom are suspected spies, have been told to return home by the UK's allies.

The Russian Embassy said on Friday it 'insists' on the right to see Ms Skripal, 33, after it emerged on Thursday she was improving rapidly.

She spent three weeks in a critical condition after being exposed to Novichok on March 4.

Ms Skripal's father remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

On Friday afternoon, the Russian Embassy published a list of 27 questions it claimed it had for the British authorities over the treatment of the Skripals.

The list included demands to know the exact nature of their condition and how they were being treated, and whether British doctors' approach 'helped or harmed' the Skripals.

It also claimed Mr Skripal's niece had been inquiring after her uncle's health but that she had been ignored by the Foreign Office, and wondered why no images or footage of the Skripals alive in hospital had been published.

Scotland Yard believes Mr Skripal and his daughter, who was visiting him from Russia, first came into contact with the deadly chemical at his home.

Detailed forensic testing revealed the highest concentration of Novichok was found on the front door.

The vast attempted murder investigation continues to unfold in the Wiltshire city, most recently leading police to cordon off a children's play area at Montgomery Gardens.

Detectives said traces of the nerve agent had been found at some of the other scenes where investigations had been carried out, but at lower concentrations.

Efforts will now focus in and around the address, and specialist teams will step back from some of the other areas investigated over the past few weeks.

Mr Skripal and his daughter have been patients at Salisbury District Hospital since they were discovered unconscious on a park bench close to The Maltings shopping centre nearly four weeks ago.

Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who was also exposed to the nerve agent, was discharged from the hospital last week. </s> The Russian government will send a plane to ferry its diplomats out of the U.S., after President Obama expelled them in a new round of sanctions against the country for its alleged meddling in the presidential election.

On Thursday, the president labeled 35 Russian diplomats from the country's embassy in Washington, DC and consulate in San Francisco 'persona non grata' - giving them 72 hours to get out of the country.

Previous reports stated that some of the diplomats were having a hard time booking travel out of the U.S. at the last minute and during the holiday season.

Russian officials are addressing the issue by sending a plane to the U.S. to pick up these expelled diplomats and their families, ensuring they are out of the country by Obama's New Year's Day deadline, the Kremlin announced Friday.

'For diplomats and their families to leave the United States, an aircraft of the Rossiya Special Flight Squadron of the Russian Presidential Property Management Directorate will be sent to the US,' the press release read.

In their announcement on Twitter, the Kremlin included a picture of the Rossiya Special Flight Squadron aircraft that will be sent to the U.S.

Rossiya Airlines is a subsidiary of Aeroflot - a 51 per cent state-owned air transportation company.

The expulsion of the 35 diplomats isn't the only part of President Obama's new round of sanctions.

The president is also closing two Russian diplomatic compounds in Maryland and New York and is sanctioning six Russian individuals and five Kremlin-associated entities.

President Obama said the sanctions were in response to Russia's allegedly coordinated hacks on the Republican and Democratic National Committees, that resulted in leaks he says were aimed at swaying the U.S. election.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied such hacks.
An Ilyushin Il-76 jet carrying Russian diplomats and their families who were expelled from the United States as a reaction to the poisoning arrives at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport.