Russia is mourning the death of 43 hockey players and crew killed in Wednesday's air crash in Yaroslavl. The team was flying to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, to take part in the Kontinental Hockey League season.

The tragic event has shocked the sports world, but what more will it take to alert the Russian government to a persistent problem?

Aviation in Russia has long had a dismal safety record. A country famous for its space program has failed to provide security to its citizens traveling by air.

Reports suggest that approximately 127 accidents involving Aeroflot aircraft and 6,875 fatalities (plus 20 people killed on the ground) took place in Russia. Aeroflot, which is the oldest and the major flag-carrier in Russia, has an average of 54.13 fatalities per accident since 1953.

Deadliest Crashes in Russia from 2001 - 2011

A few of the deadliest air-crashes that took place in the last 10 years in Russia by Aeroflot jet carriers and others:

Tupolev 134, June 20, 2011: 47 died on that day as a Tupolev 134 airliner crashed on its landing approach to Petrozavodsk. The incident prompted President Dmitry Medvedev to announce recall of most the aircrafts by year's end.

Tupolev 154, April 10, 2010: The crash of TU 154 took lives of the Polish President Lech Kaczy?ski and his wife along with 96 other officials. The incident took place near Smolensk. Pilot error was blamed.

Aeroflot Flight 821, Sept. 14, 2008: An Aeroflot Boeing crashed on its landing approach to the Perm airport. The jet was flying from Moscow. The incident took lives of 88 passengers including flight crews. Again pilot error fficiency and weather were blamed.

S7 Airlines Flight 778, July 9, 2006: S7 Airlines Flight 778 crashed at Irkutsk in July 2006. The flight went off the runway and hit a wall which caused a major fire and 125 people were killed. 70 people, however, were lucky to escape death.

Armavia Flight 967, May 3, 2006: The Armavia Flight 967, from Yerevan, Armenia, to Sochi, a Black Sea resort city in Russia, crashed on its landing approach and 113 passengers died.

Tupolev 154 July 3, 2001: All 145 people were killed when a Tu-154 plane turned 180 degrees and fell to the ground on its final approach to the Irkutsk airport. The flight was travelling from Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains to Vladivostok and was trying to land in Irkutsk for refueling.

All these incidents point out to a major failure of the Russian and other former Soviet governments' ability to provide traffic safety. Aged aircrafts, poor-quality pilot training and lax government control are taking their toll on the lives of passengers.

Russia Dmitry Medvedev Russia Poland