Russian army's troupe to return after restart

The Russian army's official dance and choir troupe, the Alexandrov Ensemble, is staging five shows at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing from Jan 4 to 7, with a variety of songs, dances and instrumental performances.

This is the first time for the ensemble to perform in China after 64 members of the group were killed in a plane crash, including its former artistic director, Valery Khalilov, on Dec 25, 2016.

The tragedy occurred when a Tu-154 aircraft crashed into the Black Sea two minutes after departing from the city of Sochi.