Senior Azerbaijani officials confirmed to Anadolu on Thursday the accuracy of earlier media reports indicating that an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday was caused by a Russian missile system.
Azerbaijani media, citing government sources, reported that preliminary findings of the investigation revealed the aircraft was struck by a Pantsir missile system as it approached Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic. The report further claimed that Russian electronic warfare systems paralyzed the plane’s communication systems, causing it to disappear from radar while in Russian airspace. It only reappeared on radar over the Caspian Sea.
The crash involved an AZAL flight carrying 67 passengers, traveling from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny. The Embraer 190 aircraft went down approximately 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, a city on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast. According to Kazakh authorities, 38 people lost their lives, while 29 survived. Investigations by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are underway.
While Azerbaijan Airlines and Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency initially attributed the crash to a bird strike, footage from the crash site showing significant damage to the aircraft’s tail has fueled speculation of a possible attack.
Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on claims that the crash resulted from an attack, urging patience until the investigation is completed.
