Sprawling country
Russia spans nine time zones, from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific across large areas of largely uninhabited land, making efficient air and train links especially important to the country's economy.
In Soviet times, flag carrier Aeroflot had a virtual monopoly of the airline industry, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a multitude of small private companies emerged.
A spokesman for state aviation oversight agency Rosaviatsia said authorities would search for the flight recorders.
“The plane touched the ground and burst into flame,” Sergei Izvolsky said. “The cause of the crash as of now is unknown.”
The plane had been forced to make an emergency landing a year earlier on November 26 due to problems with “cabin depressurization” shortly after take-off, a law enforcement source told Interfax news agency. No one was hurt.
Past disasters
IATA said last year that global airline safety had improved but that accident rates had risen in Russia and the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.
In April 2012, at least 31 people were killed when a Russian passenger plane crashed after take-off in Siberia.
In September 2011, a Yak-42 passenger jet carrying members of a major league ice hockey team came down shortly after takeoff and burst into flames near the Russian city of Yaroslavl, killing 44 people.
In the Russian city of Perm in 2008, a Boeing 737 exploded a kilometer above the ground, killing 88 people.
The Boeing 737 is the world's most popular passenger jet in commercial use today. There have been 170 crashes involving this model of aircraft since it came into use.
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