Forty-four people died when an airliner crashed around midnight (20:00 GMT Monday) in north-western Russia, the Civil Defence Ministry said early Tuesday, according to the Interfax news agency in Moscow.
Eight survivors on the Russair charter flight from Moscow to Petrozavodsk were hospitalized, authorities said, DPA reported.
The Tupolev Tu-134 with 43 passengers and a crew of nine crashed as it approached its destination, about 400 kilometres north-east of St Petersburg in Russia's Republic of Karelia, which borders Finland.
At least one foreigner, a Swedish man, was among the dead. Russian authorities said eight children were on board.