Russian figure skating champions on board the plane that crashed in Washington
Editor's note: The story was updated with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov's confirmation that Russian figure skaters were on the plane.
Russian world figure skating champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were on board the American Airlines plane that crashed in Washington, DC, on Jan. 29, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing its sources.
Later in the day, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Russian figure skaters were on the plane.
"Unfortunately, we see that this sad information is being confirmed. There were several others of our fellow citizens. Bad news from Washington today," Peskov said.
The plane crashed into a military helicopter while landing at the Washington airport. There were 64 people on the plane. In the first hours after the crash, rescuers found no survivors.
The plane was flying from Wichita, Kansas, where the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and the National Development Camp for athletes and coaches were taking place.
Shishkova and Naumov's son Maxim, who competes for the U.S. national figure skating team, was also allegedly on board the plane, the Russian Telegram channel Shot reported.
Inna Volyanskaya, a bronze medalist of the USSR championship in pairs skating, was among the passengers as well, a source told TASS.
Most of the skaters on the plane were "children of Russian immigrants," the Russian Telegram channel Mash reported.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify all the claims.
Boldizsar Gyori
