31.   Vladimir Rushailo, the chief of the commission investigating the crash of a Russian airliner said on Friday that the aircraft had been hit by an anti-aircraft missile.

32.   Hijackers seized a Russian airliner on the tarmac at a Moscow airport on Thursday and demanded a ransom of two million dollars, the interior ministry said.

33.   A Russian airliner hijacked Thursday after taking off from the far north city of Syktyvkar has landed in the Estonian capital Tallinn, Interfax reported.

34.   Basayev, who carried out a raid on the Russian town of Budennovsk last summer, also hijacked a Russian airliner to Ankara four years ago.

35.   The two flight recorders of a Russian airliner that crashed in the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen arrived Tuesday in Moscow, Interfax news agency reported.

36.   Passengers refused to board a Russian airliner at Larnaca international airport Thursday after hearing that snakes were on the loose inside, the Cyprus News Agency CNA reported.

37.   The hijacking of a Russian airliner in Dagestan Tuesday night is the fifth hostage drama in the Russian Caucasus in less than a year.