Russia has been accused of shooting down an Azerbaijani passenger plane

Russian anti-aircraft fire may have caused a passenger plane to crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, according to US and regional officials.

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight was flying from the capital of Azerbaijan Baku to Grozny in Chechnya, southern Russia, when it overturned and crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. Twenty passengers survived. nine roots.

Most of those on the plane, an Embraer 190, were citizens of Azerbaijan. There were also 16 Russians on board and several citizens of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

In the first official reports on Wednesday, Russia said heavy fog had forced the plane to divert from its intended route to Grozny and attempt to land in Kazakhstan, where it crashed after a possible collision. a flock of birds.

On the same day, the president of Azerbaijan said that he was told that the flight was diverted due to bad weather conditions.

But that was questioned by US experts and officials, the region and Ukraine, who testified that Russian air defenses were operating in Grozny at the time because of the Ukrainian air strike.

They also cited images of what appeared to be shrapnel damage to the interior and tail of the crashed plane.

A US official said that there were indications that a Russian jet could have shot down the plane.

If so, the incident would highlight Moscow’s recklessness since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the official added.

Andriy Kovalenko, an official of Ukraine’s security and national security council, wrote in Telegram: “Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny, but it didn’t . . . The plane was destroyed by the Russians and sent to Kazakhstan, instead of making an emergency stop in Grozny and saving lives.”

Senior Ukrainian officials confirmed to the Financial Times that Kyiv believes the plane may have been hit by Russian air defense systems.

Osprey, the aviation security agency, said: “Follow-up videos of the crash and the environmental conditions of the airspace in southwest Russia indicate the possibility that the plane was hit by some kind of fire.” who blocks the flight.”

A senior official in the Caucasus region says evidence points to the plane being destroyed by air defenses in the Grozny region.

“If (Russian authorities) are going to use anti-aircraft missiles, they would have closed the airspace,” the official told the FT. “The best explanation for why they didn’t is ignorance.”

If the investigation, led by Kazakhstani officials, finds that the plane was hit by air defense systems, the incident will recall the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.

The accident, which killed 298 people, was caused by a missile launched by Russian-controlled militants in eastern Ukraine, the investigation concluded.

Data from the tracking service Flightradar24 shows that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane stopped registering its position once it reached the northern Caucasus region, suggesting that the GPS was still shut down.

However, Flightradar24 found some information that showed that the plane had arrived in Grozny before changing its route to Kazakhstan.

Pictures from the crash site show most of the front of the plane was destroyed, but most of the tail remained intact.

The tail appears to be covered with signs of trauma and small punctures that may correspond to the blows of the defense mechanism above the air to the air, according to experts.

“The holes in the fuselage are very similar to the effect of the type of projectiles that air and air missiles are equipped (with), as well as anti-aircraft missiles produced by the defense systems of air like the Pantsir-S1,” said Ruslan Leviev, a military analyst and head of the Conflict Intelligence Group, an open research group.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the accident.

Kazakhstan authorities said it was “unreasonable” to blame the shooting before the investigation was completed.

A spokesman for the US National Security Council said the US had seen reports that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have shot down the plane, but referred reporters to Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani officials while the investigation continued. they are still going on.

Israel’s national airline El Al said it would ground all flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow this week as it assesses the safety of Russian airspace.

“Next week, an updated assessment of the situation will be carried out to decide whether the road will be rebuilt,” The Times of Israel quoted the company as saying.

In a statement Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer said it was “deeply disappointed by this incident”.

“Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to the families, friends, colleagues and loved ones affected by this incident. We are monitoring the situation closely and remain fully committed to supporting the relevant authorities,” the company said.

Cartographer by Steven Bernard