A distress signal had already been received from the Eurocopter-120 before it made the hard landing on the north of the Kola peninsula in the Murmansk region.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement that two people were confirmed dead and a probe had been opened into the accident, without giving further details.
However, unconfirmed reports said three people were killed and they were likely to be people who were crushed to death on the ground rather than passengers on the helicopter.