'Drunk' snow-plough driver blamed for crash that killed Total oil boss claims he is being FRAMED and says he doesn't drink because he suffers from a heart condition

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Death: Total CEO Christophe de Margerie (pictured with his wife) has died in a crash in Moscow, Russia

The snowplough driver blamed for the air crash which killed the chief executive of oil giant Total has denied being drunk at the wheel of his vehicle.

Vladimir Martynenkov's lawyer insisted his client was not guilty of causing the air crash which killed Christophe de Margerie and three others and totally denied the 'groundless' accusation that Mr Martynenkov was drunk.

The denials seem to imply Mr Martynenkov believes he is being framed. After 24 hours in detention so far, he is today expected to be formally arrested, allowing investigators to question him over a longer period.

He and air traffic controllers will be tested for alcohol and drugs, said the Russian Investigative Committee.

'In regard to the snowplough driver Vladimir Martynenko, he has been detained for 48 hours and investigators plan to announce his arrest soon,' said investigators' spokesman Vladimir Markin.

'Other versions [of the accident] are being investigated, including air traffic controller error.

'Investigators are actively working with them.'

Everyone involved 'will also be checked on the use of alcohol and psychotropic substances'.

Investigators have also since turned the spotlight on senior officials at Vnukovo airport. Several are likely to be suspended later today amid fears they could 'interfere with the investigation'.

Mr de Margerie was among four who died instantly on board the Dassault Falcon 50 in a sudden crash last night. 

The Paris-bound jet struck the ground after clipping a snowplough with its front wheel then burst into flames.

Russia's Life News published dramatic footage of the scene after the crash, showing the still-burning wreckage of the jet surrounded by emergency workers.

Vnukovo Airport suspended all flights after the incident. A criminal investigation has been opened by the Investigative Committee, Russia's equivalent of the FBI.

Mr Martynenkov, 63, was arrested after the collision and searching questions were being asked today about why the plane was given the go-ahead to take-off while the snowplough was still on the runway.

But initial claims that he was drunk at the wheel of his snowplough appear to have been put aside as investigators pursue new suspicions that 'criminal negligence by officials' was behind the tragedy.

A source told RIA Novosti news agency that a trainee flight controller was in charge of the taxiing of Mr de Margerie's aircraft at the moment it collided with the snowplough.

Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee, said: 'It is already obvious that the cause of the events was not at all a horrific tragic confluence of circumstances, which is how representatives of the airport are trying to present it, but criminal negligence by officials who could not ensure the coordinated actions of airport employees.'

He said that 'in the near future investigators will take measures to suspend from duty a number of the airport's employees who could interfere with the investigation'.

It was clear that 'behind the negligent actions of the persons directly responsible there are higher-ranking managers from the aviation enterprise'.

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Snowplough driver Vladimir Martynenkov denies accusations that he was drunk while operating his vehicle

Devastating: The charred wreckage sits alone on the Moscow runway today

Investigation: 

The shift in focus comes after Mr Martynenkov's attorney, Alexander Karabanov, told TV Rain there was no way his client could have been drunk at the wheel.

'My client has a long-lasting heart disease, he does not drink at all,' he said. 'It can be confirmed by both his relatives and the doctors.'

Mr Karabanov later added: 'We now communicate with relatives who unanimously declare that he does not drink and went to work sober. He is always aware of the fact that he works at a crucial place.

'We will participate in all investigative actions. And we believe that it is necessary to consider all possible versions of the event, a mistake of the air traffic controller, human factors, weather conditions.'

Amid fears the snowplough driver and a rookie air traffic controller will be framed, leading opposition politician Sergei Mironov, of Just Russia party, warned: 'The tragedy tells us about the extreme level of negligence in the top management of Vnukovo airport and of their inability to organise the strict security of flights.

'If the airport management prefers to find just another scapegoat - and not to take the responsibility - lessons will not be learned.' The crash would result in massive damage to Russia's international image, he said.

It was claimed today that Mr Martynenkov's snowplough had cleared the runway and left it on the orders from the control tower, but suddenly returned as the Falcon had started to speed up.

'The snowplough has suddenly returned to the runway without any single command when the plane was already speeding up,' a source told news site Lenta.ru.

'It was too late to stop. The Falcon had no time to slow down.

'The pilot decided to try and take off - but he did not have enough speed. The jet caught the snowplough with the front side of its chassis, and then - catastrophe.'

The source claimed the snowplough driver was, indeed, intoxicated, despite denials from his lawyer.

'But the reports about a trainee working at night at Vnukovo air traffic controls are wrong,' said the source. 'Anyway trainees are not permitted into the air control tower.

'Vnukovo did have complicated weather conditions at the moment of take off. The visibility was poor, with runway movements being controlled with the help of locator.

'The locator did record the strange snowplough driver's activities. The driver is alive and detained. He is being questioned along with air traffic controllers.'

The source stressed that the airport - despite serving Russia's VIPs including Vladimir Putin - is 'in a permanent mess, with regular emergencies'.

It has 'a very bad reputation among aviation experts, and is believed to be the worst in terms of operational organisation'. 

Aftermath: Russian broadcaster Life News published mobile phone footage of firefighters around the wreck

Catastrophic: Vnukovo Airport suspended all flights after the incident

Footage from LifeNews  

The crash is a crippling blow to French oil giant Total, and its stocks slumped today in early trading. 

Mr De Margerie, who earned £2million a year, had been the chief executive of Total for seven years.

He was a scion of the Taittinger champagne dynasty who rose to become one of the most flamboyant characters in the international oil industry.

The oil boss had been in Moscow for a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at his country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia. 

Vladimir Putin - who routinely uses Vnukovo airport's VIP section from where the Total's chief's plane had taxied - today sent his condolences to the family of 63-year-old Mr de Margerie.

He was regarded in Moscow as one of the Russia's leading friends in foreign business at a time when Moscow is under pressure from foreign sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.

Mr Putin said said he 'highly valued his contribution to the development of relations between Russian and France'.  

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said: 'France is losing an extraordinary business leader who turned Total into a world giant.

'France is losing a great industry captain and a patriot.'

Snowploughs at Vnukovo airport, like the one which the Dassault Falcon 50 jet struck before crashing

The snowplough had evidently not cleared the runway when the aircraft was given the go-ahead for takeoff. 

Mr Markin, the investigative committee's spokesman, had earlier blamed the snowplough driver and air-traffic controller for the accident. 

'The most likely causes of the crash are an air traffic controller's mistake and the actions of the snow plough driver, who was drunk during the accident,' said Mr Markin.

'Versions about poor weather and a pilot mistake will also be checked.'

'During run-up at 11:57 pm, there was a collision with the airport's snow plough. As a result of the crash, the passenger and all the crew members died,' said a spokesman.

The airport said that visibility was at 350 metres at the time of the accident. Moscow saw its first snowfall of the winter on Monday.

'There was one passenger registered on the plane, French citizen Christophe de Margerie. The three crew members were also French citizens. They all died,' said an aviation source.

A spokeswoman for transport investigators, Tatyana Morozova, told Interfax that three men and a 39-year-old woman died .

Flight recorders were found in the wreckage. 

Chief: Mr De Margerie, who earned £2million a year, had been the figurehead of Total for seven years

Widowed: Mr de Margerie arriving with his wife at the Elysée Palace, Paris, to attend a dinner with then French president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. France was today sending investigators to Moscow

Mr de Margerie stood out among Western business leaders in supporting Russia, and questioning the sanctions being imposed on Moscow, though he once labelled Putin 'terrifying' to negotiate with, which the strongman took as a compliment. .

'Are we going to build a new Berlin Wall?' he said in a recent interview.

'Russia is a partner and we shouldn't waste time protecting ourselves from a neighbour ... What we are looking to do is not to be too dependent on any country, no matter which. Not from Russia, which has saved us on numerous occasions.'

Total is France's second-biggest listed company with a market value of 102 billion euros. Mr de Margerie had been chief executive since 2007. He had worked for the company for 40 years and was nicknamed the 'Big Moustache' for his bushy handlebar. 

He was the grandson of Pierre Taittinger, founder of Taittinger champagne and the luxury goods dynasty. 

Russian capital: The aircraft collided with the clearing machine on take-off at Vnukovo Airport (file picture)

Married with three children, he was known for his good humour but De Margerie had steered Total through tough times including defending the company against allegations of corruption during the 'oil-for-food' programme in Iraq.

Last year the multinational was acquitted of corruption charges related to the United Nations programme.

A Paris criminal court also cleared 18 others of misusing assets in the decade-old case into corruption in the programme, in which an illicit £1.1billion ended up in the hands of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In May 2013, Total agreed to pay £246million to settle US criminal and civil allegations that it paid bribes to win oil and gas contracts in Iran.

Total is working on a new natural gas liquefaction plant in Yamal in northwestern Siberia but the oil chief was in Russia to discuss foreign investment into the country.

France was today sending investigators to Moscow.