RUSSIAN officials have angrily attacked Charlie Hebdo for the satirical magazine's cartoons on the crashed military Tu-154 which have provoked disgust in Moscow.

Some 68 members of the Alexandrov music and dance ensemble perished when the aircraft crashed into the Black Sea on Christmas Day.

3 The cartoons have been slammed in Russia

They were among the total of 92 passengers and crew who died in the tragedy.

The images in the French satirical magazine show a choir member from the ensemble making a wailing sound "aaaaaa."

One caption reads: "The repertoire of the army choir is expanding."

related stories WE CAN’T PUT OUR FINGER ON IT From Putin to Trump, why do the world's most powerful men have such SMALL HANDS? ‘LET’S HAVE A NUKE ARMS RACE!’ Donald Trump vows to ‘outmatch Russia at every pass’ after Putin's nukes boasts 'YOU KNOW WHO DID IT' Vladimir Putin hints that WESTERN spies had a hand in assassination of Russian ambassador TRUMP NUKE ARMS RACE Donald Trump vows to ‘greatly strengthen and expand’ US nuclear arsenal hours after Vladimir Putin announces Russia is arming up with more nukes BRIT TROOPS 'ARE LIKE THE NAZIS' Putin's defence minister compares British Army to Nazi Germany WIDOW'S SORROW Vladimir Putin consoles wife of assassinated Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov at hero’s memorial after he was shot dead in front of her NEW COLD WAR Russia claims the US has FROZEN communications with the Kremlin after accusing Putin of election email hack

Another cartoon in the magazine implies it is "bad news" that Russian president Vladimir Putin was not on board as the aircraft crashes into the Black Sea.

A third image shows bodies sinking in the sea with the caption: 'The Red Army conquers a new public."

The Russian Defence Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov condemned the cartoons.

He said: "It is degrading for any human being to even pay attention to such a poorly-created abomination.

"If such, dare I say, 'artistry' is the real manifestation of 'Western values', then those who hold and support them are doomed - at least to loneliness in the future."

He claimed Russians who had worn 'Je suis Charlie' have now gone quiet.

The leader of Chechnya, a strongly pro-Putin politician, Ramzan Kadyrov joined the criticism.

"I have said it before and will say it once again now - that the editorial policy of the magazine is immoral and inhuman.

3 A Russian defence minister says the controversial magazine has lost support in Russia following the cartoons

"It has nothing to do with freedom of speech - neither directly nor indirectly."

The tragedy was "taken as personal grief by millions of Russians and our friends across the world," he said.

Yet magazine "mocks our national tragedy".

The cartoon is published as only 19 of the victims' bodies have been found by salvage workers.

A law enforcement source said today: "At the plane crash site, 19 bodies of the victims have been lifted up.

3 People light candles to honour those lost in the air crash Credit: EPA

"Seventeen of them, as well as all body parts, have been carried by a special flight to Moscow for identification and genetic analysis."

This is not the first time that Charlie Hebdo has angered Moscow with controversial caricatures connected with Russia.

In November 2015, the magazine published cartoons on the Russian Kogalymavia"s A321 plane crash in Egypt that killed 224 people, the country's worst-ever aviation disaster.

The French Foreign Ministry has told Russian critics that the country"s leadership has nothing to do with the activities of the magazine and that the employees of the weekly are free to express their own opinions.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368