BAKU, Azerbaijan. Dec 26/Reuters/ – An Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday was downed by a Russian air defence system, according to four sources in Azerbaijan with knowledge of the investigation, Reuters reported.
The Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, resulting in the deaths of 38 people. The plane had diverted from an area in Russia where Moscow has recently deployed air defence systems against Ukrainian drone strikes.
The Embraer passenger jet, which had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny in Russia’s southern Chechnya region, veered off course and crossed hundreds of miles over the Caspian Sea. It crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian, following what Russia’s aviation watchdog described as an emergency possibly caused by a bird strike.
Officials have not explained why the plane crossed the sea. The nearest Russian airport on the plane’s flight path, Makhachkala, was closed on Wednesday morning. An Azerbaijani source familiar with the investigation told Reuters that preliminary results indicated the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. The source added that the aircraft’s communications were disrupted by electronic warfare systems as it approached Grozny.
“No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, given the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to admit to the downing of the Azerbaijani aircraft,” the source said. Three other sources confirmed that the Azerbaijani investigation reached the same preliminary conclusion. Russia’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
A U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday that early indications suggested a Russian anti-aircraft system might have struck the plane. Canada expressed deep concern over reports that Russian air defence may have downed the aircraft.
“We call on Russia to allow for an open and transparent investigation into the incident and to accept its findings,” the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement on X.
Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Qanat Bozymbaev stated that he could neither confirm nor deny the theory that Russian air defences downed the plane. The Kazakh transport prosecutor for the region where the plane crashed mentioned that the investigation had yet to reach a firm conclusion regarding the involvement of Russian air defences.
The Kremlin, when asked about the possibility that Russian air defences had shot at the plane, said it would be improper to comment until the investigation concluded. “It is wrong to build hypotheses before the conclusions of the investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
