State Dept. says US is monitoring Air India flight diverted to Russia

Authorities have reported an Air India flight bound for the United States has been diverted to Russia over a technical issue.

Vedant Patel, State Department Deputy Spokesperson: "It was a flight that was bound for the United States, so it is of course likely that there are American citizens on board. As you probably also saw, there's public reporting from Air India that they are sending, what my understanding is, a replacement aircraft to the destination, to have the passengers carry on for their route. But I would, I would defer to the air carrier to speak to anything further on this."