Kremlin says West does not agree on investigating Il-76 crash for 'fear of exposing itself’

The Kremlin on Thursday claimed that Western countries are refusing to take part in the investigation into the Russian military plane crash in the country's Belgorod region last week for "fear of exposing themselves."

"None of them will be interested in conducting an investigation and stumbling upon themselves in this investigation. The position of the collective West, which is a direct participant in this armed conflict, is also obvious," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a press briefing in Moscow.

Peskov reiterated Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments a day earlier on his country's readiness to take part in an international investigation into the incident, saying that European countries are expressing they will not consider anything "without paper."

On Wednesday, Putin declared that the plane was "downed" by an American Patriot system.

Expressing that Russia insists on holding an international investigation into the crash, Putin went on to say that he did not understand why Ukraine downed the plane.

On Jan. 24, Russia's Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of shooting down a plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian servicemen for a prisoner exchange.

The crew and all passengers on the plane were killed, it said, calling it "a terrorist attack" mounted to accuse Russia of killing Ukrainian servicemen.

Ukraine's Defense Intelligence claimed that the incident could be a "planned and deliberate" action by Moscow to "destabilize" the situation, saying it currently does not have "reliable and comprehensive information" about who and how many people were onboard.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will insist on an international investigation into the crash.