"We have been in constant contact with DRC officials on establishing the pilots' citizenship. According to preliminary information, we have established that there were Russian nationals among the crew members. Their names and surnames are being established," Kononova said.
The aircraft, which conducted flights at the request of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, left the Goma International Airport at 1.32 p.m. local time (11:32 GMT) on Thursday and was due to land in the DRC capital of Kinshasa at 4.43 p.m., but went off radar an hour after taking off.
It was later confirmed that the aircraft, carrying four crew members and four passengers, had crashed in DRC's east.