Russia has accused Charlie Hebdo of 'mocking' the Black Sea plane crash after publishing 'inhuman' cartoons about the disaster.

In one reference to the crash, which claimed 92 lives, the French magazine depicted a jet hurtling downwards along with words translated as: 'Bad news... Putin wasn't on board'.

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

The satirical magazine also published a cartoon showing a choir member from the ensemble making a wailing sound 'aaaaaa'. One caption reads: 'The repertoire of the army choir is expanding.'

It comes as Russian authorities investigating the crash said there was no explosion on board - but that they had not ruled out a 'terrorist act' as the cause.

Russia has accused satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo of 'mocking' the Black Sea plane crash after publishing 'inhuman' cartoons about the disaster

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

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

'It is degrading for any human being to even pay attention to such a poorly-created abomination,' said the Russian Defence Ministry's spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov.

'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' - in support of the magazine after it was targeted in a terror atrocity in 2015 - have now gone quiet.

The leader of Chechnya, 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.

'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.

Salvage: Black Sea rescue teams continued their work at the scene of the crash this morning

More wreckage has been dragged up from the sea bed today as investigations into the disaster continue

Pictures show the wheels of the aircraft lying across the deck of the Russian salvage ship

Experts analyse some of the wreckage of the plane, including windows salvaged from the sea bed

Yet the magazine 'mocks our national tragedy', he added.

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.

'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.

Investogation: The plane crashed down on Sunday with all 92 passengers on crew killed

Huge pieces of the plane have been winched to the surface for inspection by aviation experts

Russian authorities continue a search operation in the Black Sea for bodies and debris of the crashed military plane

Rescuers combed the bottom of the sea for fragments of the Russian military plane that crashed, killing all 92 on board

Meanwhile Russian authorities investigating the crash say there was no explosion on board but they had not ruled out a 'terrorist act' as the cause.

The Defence Ministry Tupolev-154 was flying to Syria with dozens of Red Army Choir singers and dancers on board when it plunged into the Black Sea shortly after take-off from Sochi in southern Russia on Sunday.

Investigators have said pilot error or a technical fault were among the most likely causes of the disaster.

'The was no explosion on board,' said Sergei Bainetov, the Russian Air Force's head of flight safety who is serving on a government commission investigating the crash.

'But this isn't the only type of terrorist act ... It could have been any type of mechanical impact, so we don't rule out a terrorist act,' he told a news conference.

Bainetov said the commission was investigating around seven theories that included poor quality fuel causing engine failure and a bird getting caught up in the engines.

'There is no leading theory,' he said.

Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told the news conference that a terrorist act was not among the main theories being considered but Bainetov's comments were the clearest indication so far that it was a possibility.

Bainetov said it would take at least 10 days to decipher the aircraft's main flight recorder, which was flown to Moscow on Wednesday. He said there would be no final conclusions on the cause of the crash for at least 30 days.

Bainetov said use of the Tu-154, an ageing Soviet-era design still actively used by Russian government ministries but not by major Russian commercial airlines, would not be phased out following the crash.

It comes as Russian aviation experts are examining 'damage' to the blades of one engine of the Tupolev jet.

They will analyse whether the impairments were caused before the crash, or by impact with the water at the moment the aircraft came down.

One aviation even raised the spectre that 'counterfeit' jet engine parts could have been installed into the aircraft when it had a refit two years ago.

But the experts have ruled out damage by a flock of birds, one theory that was aired widely in the Russian media after the crash of the three-engine Tu-154, which was 33 years old.

The opened black box flight recorder which has been pulled from the Black Sea after the crash

A navy ship and a helicopter taking part in the search operation in the Black Sea on Tuesday

A Transport Ministry source cited by Life.ru news website said the 'damaged blades have been passed to engineers of the research and development centre for the use and maintenance of aviation equipment' near Moscow.

The centre is part of the Defence Ministry and the source said 'it will be possible to make an unequivocal conclusion about the reasons for the damaged of elements of the Tu-154 engine only after the experts' conclusion'.

A source told the website that the most likely causes were 'exhaustion' of the metal parts of the engine.

Sergey Krutousov, an aviation expert, said: 'It shouldn't be ruled out that counterfeit parts could have been used...

'As a result, the blades of the engine could not hold the pressure.'

Viktor Trusov, a top official in the Interstate Aviation Commission, which'probes air crashes in Russia, said damage to an engine's blades could both be a reason and a consequence of the crash.'

'Impact on water could have also damaged the blades,' he said.

Earlier attention had focuses on wing flaps after comments in the last seconds from the cockpit.

One of the flight crew said in the final seconds of the flight: 'The flaps, b****h, what the f***!'

But Life.ru said initial signs - after parts of the plane were pulled up from the sea floor that the flaps were functional.

A source close to investigation said that 'In the third minute of the flight, instead of pulling up the wheels, the second pilot could have hidden the flaps.'

Life.ru said 'it is still not clear whether they were operating at the take-off or landing mode at the moment of crash.'

The article also speculates that the flight crew made the wrong decision to push controls close to each other because of 'exhaustion' after flying through the night from Moscow region to Sochi, and then preparing for the second leg of the flight to Syria.

But a source in the military general prosecutor's office said that 'perhaps the reason of the crash of the Tu-154 during its climb could have been failure of the hydraulics system of the aircraft'.

This 'resulted in the complete loss of the possibility to manage the aircraft.