The terrorist act committed against the Russian army's Il-76 plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war should prompt the United States Congress to take action, the Russian State Duma, Russian Parliament's Lower Chamber, said on Wednesday.
The plane, which was carrying Ukrainian servicemen for a planned prisoner exchange, was shot down by an American missile, according to Russia's Investigative Committee.
Russian parliamentarians approved a resolution project calling on their US counterparts to investigate the attack on the Russian Il-76 plane.
The Russian Duma urges the US Congress to condemn the "terrorist regime in Kiev" and bring the perpetrators to justice.
"The attack on the plane was a premeditated and deliberate killing, as the exchange of prisoners had been agreed between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, including the route for their delivery," the Russian deputies stressed.
The Duma also called on Washington to stop supplying weapons that "end up in the hands of terrorists and radical extremists around the world."
"They must also bear responsibility for this. Let them ask [US President Joe] Biden. Congress has these powers. Let them take him and bring him to justice [...] And tomorrow they will hand over other weapons. All this will lead to nuclear war. You have to use your head, think, in the end, you need to think about responsibility if you are laying claim to a country that determines what the world should be like and where it should go," State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said.
The plane, which was carrying 65 prisoners, was hit by an MIM-104A missile from the US Patriot complex, according to the findings of the Russian Investigative Committee.
On January 24, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that a Russian Il-76 military cargo plane carrying captured Ukrainian servicemen had crashed in the Belgorod region. The POWs were to be handed over to the Ukrainian side in exchange for Russian prisoners on the other side of the border. All aboard the plane, including the POWs, the crew, and the escorting Russian military officers, were reported dead.