A Utair carrying 19kg of radioactive cargo on its Moscow to Khanty-Mansiysk route performed an emergency landing at Vnukovo Airport.

According to a source from SHOT, the aircraft issued a distress signal due to landing gear malfunctions around 1 a.m. today. The plane, carrying 104 passengers and 19kg of non-prohibited radioactive cargo, circled the skies for an additional 40 minutes before safely touching down at 1:40 a.m. No passengers or cargo were harmed during the incident.

Utair’s press service denies reports of an emergency landing, asserting that the aircraft landed under normal conditions. They emphasize that the cargo is officially documented and poses no threat to passengers or crew.

Khanty-Mansiysk during the 1980s hosted underground Soviet nuclear tests where Russians detonated a 2.5kt nuclear device in an underground shaft some four-hour drive from the city in 1985.