Ruling out the possibility of a technical failure already? Ynet News:

Five Russian scientists who assisted in the design of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant were among the 44 fatalities of Monday's Russian plain crash, Moscow's International News Agency RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

The Tupolev-134 plane broke up and caught fire upon making an emergency landing outside the northern city of Petrozavodsk. A preliminary investigation ruled out the possibility of a technical failure.

Three of the experts - Sergei Rizhov, Gennadi Benyok, and Nicolai Tronov - were among the atom facility's designers. Andrei Trokinov, a top Russian nuclear technological expert, was also killed, as was Valery Lalyn, another nuclear expert.

The five worked at Bushehr and were to ensure the facility would withstand natural disasters.

The five were employed by Hydropress, a member-organization of Russia's State Nuclear Corporation. Hydropress is one of the main companies involved in the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and is also involved in projects in China, India and Bulgaria.

Mossad's reach - especially into Russia - is considerable. But that doesn't necessarily mean it was an Israeli plot. One must always eliminate accidental reasons first before speculating about a deliberate act of sabotage.

Bushehr just came online a few weeks ago and is still in the process of powering up. It is a critical time for the reactor and losing these scientists will set back the project several months. Is that reason enough to bring the plane down?

Assuming the Russians are of a mind to release information about the crash, we will probably know shortly.