Russia's transport ministry has identified the Antonov An-12 freighter which crashed shortly after departure from Chelyabinsk on May 26 while en route to Perm.

The An-12 was bearing registration RA-12957 and was operating for Moskovia Airlines, although the four-engined aircraft was recently still carrying the colours of Kosmos Aviation Company.

Seven crew members plus two engineering personnel were on board, says the ministry, although it was not carrying any cargo. There were no survivors.

"Eight minutes after take-off the crew reported to the air traffic controller that smoke was in the aircraft cabin," the ministry states. "Two minutes after the crew's report the [radar identification signal] disappeared."

It crashed at 20:12 Chelyabinsk local time, and the wreckage was located around 11km from the airport. The aircraft's captain had more than 14,900h flight experience, of which over 10,000h were on An-12s.

Russia's transport minister Igor Levitin has formed an inquiry panel to investigate the accident. Moskovia Airlines will be represented on the panel which will be headed by Russia's federal transport supervisory authority.