A Russian military strategic bomber has crashed in the country's Volga region after an engine fire, killing four people, say agencies.
The TU-160 fighter plane - known by the NATO code name of Blackjack - came down on Thursday near Saratov half an hour after the crew contacted ground control to say there had been a fire in one of the plane's engines.
It was the latest in a series of military accidents that last month led Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov to accuse the military of carelessness.
Speaking of one of August's crashes, Ivanov said two military helicopters had collided mid-air in the country's Far East because of "negligence, showing-off and air hooliganism".
