The United States Figure Skating Federation announced that on board the crashed "American Airlines" plane, which collided with a "Black Hawk" military helicopter last night, in Washington and fell into the Potomac River, there were figure skating coaches and competitors, Reuters reported.
According to TASS, the 1994 world champions for Russia in pairs, Evgenia Shishkina and Vadim Naumov, who are a family, were on board.
"We are shocked by this unspeakable tragedy and our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families of the victims," the US federation said in a statement.
According to Reuters, up to 15 figure skaters may have been on board the plane, which arrived at Ronald Reagan National Airport from Wichita, Kansas.
TASS reported that among the 64 people on the plane was the bronze medalist from the USSR championship in pairs, Inna Volyanskaya. She is a coach at a Washington figure skating club.
The Kremlin confirmed today that there were Russian figure skaters on board the crashed plane and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased, Reuters reported.
"Unfortunately, we see that these sad data are being confirmed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the information that there were Russian figure skaters among the passengers.
"There were also other fellow citizens there," the spokesman added. Asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would personally express condolences to his American counterpart Donald Trump, Peskov said that no high-level contacts were planned for now.