Israel accepts Ukraine's pay-off for downed plane
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KIEV, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Israel and Ukraine signed a formal agreement on Thursday accepting Kiev's compensation offer to families of Israeli passengers who died two years ago when a stray Ukrainian rocket shot down a civilian plane. "The sum of compensation is confidential and will not be made public," Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told reporters after signing the deal with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yosef Lapid. Ukrainian media reported that Kiev would pay some $200,000 for each Israeli killed in the crash. Russia, whose citizens also died when a surface-to-air missile launched during military exercises in Ukraine hit the Tupolev-154 carrying 78 passengers over the Black Sea, has rejected Kiev's compensation proposal as "insufficient". The plane, operated by Russia's Sibir company, was on its way from Tel Aviv to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk when the accident happened on October 4, 2001. All the people on board, mostly Russians and Israelis, died. Ukraine first denied its rocket caused the crash but later reluctantly accepted responsibility after Russians recovered some of the plane's debris from the sea and the United States said its satellite had spotted a rocket's plume by the plane. Azarov said Kiev hoped to close the compensation issue with Moscow "shortly".
