
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 31, 1993                   TAG: 9308310074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

RUSSIA BLAMES KAL DISASTER ON 007'S PILOTS

The downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 nearly 10 years ago that killed the 269 people aboard was caused by "a series of blunders and mistakes" by the jumbo jet's pilots and the former Soviet Union "bears no guilt," the first Russian commission to investigate the tragedy said Monday.

The findings are similar to those released in June by the International Civil Aviation Organization in Canada, but the Russian commission was more sweeping in its exoneration of Soviet authorities for the Sept. 1, 1983, shooting.

"It turns out that the Soviet Union bears no guilt for this incident," said Sergei Filatov, chief of staff to Russian President Boris Yeltsin and head of the commission. Filatov expressed his condolences to the families of the victims but turned aside questions of whether Russia should pay compensation to the relatives. - The Washington Post

by CNB