Azerbaijan’s preliminary investigation into a deadly air crash in Kazakhstan has concluded that the airliner was downed by Russia’s air defence systems, multiple media outlets have reported.
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed near the city of Aktau on Wednesday while en route to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia, killing 38 people and injuring 29 others.
Azerbaijan Airlines suspended a host of flights to Russian cities on Friday and said preliminary findings showed the crash was caused by what it termed “physical and technical external interference”. It did not detail what that interference was.
While Azerbaijan has yet to publicly announce the findings of its probe into the disaster, Rashan Nabiyev, the country’s minister of digital development and transportation, told Azerbaijani media on Friday that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” as does witness testimony.
“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” Nabiyev said.
On Thursday, officials concluded that a Russian anti-aircraft missile was to blame, Euronews, The Wall Street Journal, Anadolu Agency and the Reuters news agency reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the investigation.
Reuters cited a source as saying that the aircraft was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S battery after having its communications paralysed by electronic warfare systems on its approach to Grozny.
The firing on the plane was not believed to be intentional, Reuters quoted the source as saying.
Euronews cited government sources as saying the aircraft was not allowed to land in Russia after pilots requested an emergency landing and was instead directed to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claims.
‘Complicated’ conditions
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency initially said that the plane had been forced to make an emergency landing after striking a flock of birds.
The reports of Russia’s involvement came after aviation experts suggested Russian air defences were likely to blame, based on visible damage to the plane’s tail section.
The Embraer 190 had been flying over a part of Russia’s North Caucasus that has been targeted by Ukrainian drones in recent weeks, and Russia’s Ministry of Defence reported shooting down dozens of drones on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Footage of the stricken aircraft on social media showed the plane making a steep descent before hitting the ground and bursting into flames.
Russia has cautioned against speculation about the cause of the crash, with the Kremlin refusing to comment on Friday on claims about a Russian missile being responsible.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “It would be wrong to make any hypotheses before the investigation’s conclusions.”
Separately on Friday, the head of Russia’s civil aviation agency, Dmitry Yadrov, said Ukrainian drones were attacking Grozny as the plane was trying to land there, before it later crashed in Kazakhstan.
Yadrov said on Telegram that there was heavy fog over Grozny when the incident occurred and “conditions that day and in those hours around the airport were very complicated”.
“Ukrainian military drones were carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure … at the time,” he said. Due to the danger posed by the drones, no departures and arrivals were permitted in Grozny and the plane had to divert, he added.
Kazakhstan, which is also probing the crash, has declined to speculate on the cause before the release of its own findings.
Azerbaijan on Thursday held a day of mourning for the victims of the crash, with residents of the former Soviet country observing a moment of silence as national flags were lowered and traffic came to a halt nationwide.
“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people,” Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said.
