"Bad news from Washington," said Dmitry Peskov, referring to reports from the USA. Acclaimed Russian figure skaters were reportedly on board the plane. The downed plane was reported to have the 1994 world figure skating champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov on board,

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the Russian figure skaters were on board the crashed American Airlines plane.

Two Russian figure skating World champions were aboard the American Airlines jet that collided midair with a helicopter near Washington.

Shishkova and Naumov, who are listed as coaches at the Skating Club of Boston in Norwood, Massachusetts, competed twice in the Olympics.

Figure skaters, their coaches and family members had been on a flight to Washington after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

An American Airlines regional jet carrying 60 passengers, including U.S. and Russian figure skaters, collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport Jan. 29.

Former world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the flight from Wichita, which hosted last week’s U.S.championships.

Several figure skaters, their coaches and family members had been on a flight to Washington after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

Russian figure skating pair Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among those on board when an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army helicopter, the Kremlin said.

For the latest updates on victim recovery efforts, please read USA TODAY's live coverage of the plane crash investigation on Friday, Jan. 31. WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed to USA TODAY on Thursday evening that investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane that collided in midair with an Army helicopter,

Dmitry Peskov said that the Russian diplomats are discussing formalities related to the transfer of the bodies