Russia Starts Effort To Improve Flight Safety

Members of the crew aboard the crashed Russian passenger plane were buried on August 30 (ITAR-TASS) August 31, 2006 -- Russia's prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, today ordered his deputy, Sergei Ivanov, to take charge of efforts to improve flight safety.

The move comes nine days after Russian plane crashed in Ukraine, killing 170 people.

Investigators have focused on bad weather as the most likely cause of the crash.

Ivanov, who is also defense minister, will look at means of improving the safety of both civilian and military flights.

(ITAR-TASS, AP)