The Russian investigation of the two Aug. 24 plane crashes has come to a conclusion that the crash tragedies happened because of criminal cases with terrorism charges, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said that "the disintegration of (the Tu-154 and the Tu-134 planes) during the flight resulted from an impact caused by explosive charges in the passenger sections."

The conclusions were announced at the state commission's session on Wednesday, Interfax news agency said.

The Prosecutor General's Office has opened a criminal case with terrorism charges, said Levitin, who also heads the state commission of investigation surrounding the two plane crashes. This case will be handled by the prosecutor office's department for investigating high-profile cases, he added.

The airplanes, their engines, systems and equipment were in working order and were used in compliance with set guidelines, Levitin said, adding that prior to the accidents, their flights proceeded normally.

The recordings made by the airplanes' flight data recorders have shown that explosions that occurred near the 25th row of seats on board the Tu-154 and near the 19th row aboard the Tu-134 had their epicenters inside the planes' fuselages, causing the Tu-134 and the Tu-154 to depressurize within one second, Levitin said.

Source: Xinhua