By agreement with the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), the BEA is issuing the following statement:

Leonid Kashirsky, the Investigator-In-Charge of the investigation into the accident involving an A320 at Sochi, has announced that during the period from Friday 26 to Saturday 27 May, the flight recorder containers were opened, the media supports were recovered and flight data were downloaded in full compliance with technological and procedural standards, under the control of investigators from the Interstate Aviation Committee with the participation of representatives from the Armenian and Russian CAA's. The work was done at the French BEA facilities since it required specialized equipment available there.

Both recordings are in satisfactory condition and their decoding and analysis started on May 29 at the Interstate Aviation Committee.

Note: no information on the data will be issued by the French or Armanian authorities since the investigation is the sole responsibility of the IAC.