Azerbaijan Airlines says preliminary results of an investigation into the Dec. 25 crash of its plane in Kazakhstan blamed “physical and technical external interference.”
38 people died when the Embraer jet crashed at high speed and burst into flames 3 km (1.9 miles) short of the Aktau airport runway.
The plane had originally attempted to land at Grozny airport in southern Russia, but witnesses spoke of an explosion before it was diverted to Kazakhstan via the Caspian Sea.
The head of Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority said on Friday that the situation in the Chechen capital was “very complicated” and that a “closed skies” protocol had been introduced.
“Ukrainian combat drones launched terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz,” Dmitry Yadrov, head of Rosavyatya, said in a video statement carried by the Russian news agency Tass.
“For this reason, a ‘carpet plan’ was introduced in the Grozny airport area, which provided for the immediate departure of all aircraft from the designated area,” he said. “There was also thick fog in the Grozny airport area.”
Azerbaijan Airlines did not provide any details about the physical and technical interventions, and the government in Baku has avoided blaming Russia directly, perhaps to avoid angering President Vladimir Putin.
However, aviation experts and pro-government media in Azerbaijan believe that the plane was damaged by shrapnel from the explosion of a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
“These are rocket fragments that damaged the hydraulic system. The aircraft’s controls are based on hydraulics,” veteran Azerbaijani pilot Tahir Agaguliev told Azerbaijani media.
Flight attendant Zulfuqar Asadov, who was among the 29 survivors of the crashed plane, told local media that the plane was “hit by some kind of external attack.”
“The impact caused panic inside. We tried to calm them down, get them a seat. At that moment there was another blow and my arm was injured.”
In a social media post, Azerbaijan Airlines said it was suspending flights to seven Russian cities “for safety reasons” in response to the crash.
It had already suspended flights to Grozny and Makhachkala in neighboring Dagestan, but has now added the cities of Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara and Mineralnye Vody.
Israel’s flagship airline El Al has now suspended all flights to Moscow, citing developments in Russian airspace.
Ukrainian presidential spokesman Andriy Yermak said Russia should be held responsible for the crash.
The Kremlin refused to comment on reports that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was hit by Russian air defenses.
“An investigation into this flight incident is underway and until conclusions are drawn from the investigation, we do not consider ourselves authorized to make assessments,” said spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Vigils were held in Azerbaijan to honor the pilots who are credited with saving lives by being able to land part of the plane even though they died in the crash.
Kazakh authorities have treated the injured and worked closely with Azerbaijan in the investigation. However, they refused to reveal details of their accident investigation.
Reports in Baku indicate that both Russia and Kazakhstan have proposed tasking a committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a Russian-dominated regional organization – with investigating the crash. However, Azerbaijan had instead called for an international investigation instead of one involving former Soviet countries.
