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A Russian Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopter crashed in Syria in the early hours of Tuesday killing both pilots, Russia's Defence Ministry said.
The ministry said the helicopter, which crashed in Homs province, had not been shot down, but the cause of the incident was unclear.
"A group of specialists is working at the crash site to investigate the incident," the ministry said in a statement. The pilots' bodies had been recovered and brought back to Russia's air base in Hmeymim in Latakia province, it said.
President Vladimir Putin announced on March 14 that Russia was withdrawing the bulk of its military contingent in Syria. Around half its fixed-wing strike aircraft flew out in the days that followed.
But Russia continued to ship significant quantities of military supplies to Syria and analysts said the Kremlin had changed rather than diluted its military capabilities, increasingly relying on helicopters to support the Syrian army.
Mi-28N helicopters, broadly equivalent to America's Apache gunship, took part in the Syrian government operation to push Islamic State out of the ancient city of Palmyra last month, firing anti-tank rockets at armoured vehicles.
The crash is the third aircraft Russia has acknowledged losing in Syria. Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi-24 bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on November 24 and a helicopter sent to rescue the pilots was then destroyed by rebels after landing.
UN Syria envoy in Iran ahead of Geneva peace talks
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with a key backer of President Bashar al-Assad on the eve of fresh peace negotiations in Geneva.
De Mistura will meet Iran's deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iranian media reported, ahead of the latest effort to end five years of fighting that have killed more than 270,000 people.
Iran and Russia have been Assad's top supporters in the conflict, with Tehran providing economic and military support that has backed up his rule.
De Mistura, a veteran diplomat and negotiator in conflict zones including Iraq and Afghanistan, said on Monday in Damascus that this week's Geneva meetings would be "crucially important".
"We will be focusing in particular on the political transition, on governance and constitutional principles," he told reporters after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
A shaky ceasefire has been in place in Syria since February 27.
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