The pilot of a military helicopter carrying two Russian politicians was mortally wounded by groundfire today while flying near the border with Chechnya but managed to land the aircraft before dying.
Neither Mr Alexei Arbatov, the deputy head of parliament's defence committee or Mr Yevgeny Zelenov, also a defence committee member, were wounded in the shooting, it said.
"Both Arbatov nor Zelenov feel fine, except for some bumps and bruises, which were inevitable because the pilot, after getting wounded, himself guided the helicopter to landing for 30 minutes," a defence committee spokesman said.
AFP