Russian plane crash clouds Putin's goals

Still, the accidents may generate sympathy for Russia and its leaders, Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy and defence at the London-based Centre for European Reform, said in a telephone interview yesterday. While regional airlines may be "decrepit," the flagship carrier OAO Aeroflot has one of Europe’s newest fleets, he said. "I don’t know how you draw generalisations for Russia from this incident," Valasek said. "It appears to have been a pilot error and it says nothing about the safety of the airport."