MOSCOW — A Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed March 6 while approaching Khmeimim air base in Syria, killing everyone on board — six crew members and 33 passengers. A few hours after the catastrophe, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin the preliminary findings: The crash was believed to be caused either by pilot error or technical malfunction. The plane was built in 1980.

The incident — Russia's single-biggest military loss in Syria — claimed the lives of Russian Maj. Gen. Vladimir Yeremeyev, a colonel, six majors, two captains and 29 junior officers and sergeants.

Jaish al-Islam claimed responsibility for the incident, saying it fired on the plane when it was about to land. The attack supposedly came in retaliation for the Russia-supported Syrian army offensive in Eastern Ghouta. The Conflict Intelligence Team, a Moscow-based independent investigative group, suggested the statement was false given the limited presence of Jaish al-Islam in the area adjacent to the crash site. The team also pointed out that the statement was only released by the Lebanese Ad-Diyar newspaper and hadn't appeared on any of Jaish al-Islam’s social networks.

Shortly after the incident, Putin spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to a Kremlin press release, Erdogan expressed his condolences and informed the Russian leader of the ongoing Turkish operation in Afrin. The two also discussed the state of affairs in Eastern Ghouta.