White House spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. had seen “early indications” that Russia may be responsible for the shooting down of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on December 25, killing 38 people.
Mr. Kirby did not elaborate but told reporters that the U.S. had offered assistance in investigating the crash.
The plane is believed to have come under fire from Russian air defense systems as it attempted to land in Chechnya, before being diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where it crashed.
The Kremlin declined to comment, but the head of Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority said the situation in Chechnya was “very complicated” because of Ukrainian drone attacks on the region.
Mr Kirby said the evidence the US had seen went beyond widely circulated photos of the damaged plane, the Washington Post reported.
Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were compromised by electronic interference and the plane was subsequently damaged by shrapnel from Russian anti-aircraft missiles.
Azerbaijan has not blamed Russia, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and was damaged inside and out while attempting to land.
“Without exception, all (the survivors) reported hearing three sounds of explosions when the plane was over Grozny,” Rashad Nabiyev said.
Mr. Nabiyev said investigators would now examine “what type of weapon or what type of missile was used.”
However, pro-government MP Rasim Musabekov made it clear: “The plane was shot down over Russian territory, in the sky over Grozny. Denying this is impossible.”
He told AFP the plane was damaged and the pilot had asked for an emergency landing in Grozny. Instead of being routed to nearby airports, it was sent “far away” across the Caspian Sea without GPS.
Flight attendant Zulfuqar Asadov described the moments when the plane was hit by “some kind of external attack” over Chechnya.
“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.”
The pilots of the Embraer 190 aircraft are credited with saving 29 passengers on board by managing to land part of the plane, although they died in the crash.
The Kremlin refused to comment on growing 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.
Kazakh authorities have treated the injured and worked closely with Azerbaijan in the investigation.
According to reports in Baku, both Russia and Kazakhstan have suggested that a committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a Russian-dominated regional organization – investigate the crash. However, Azerbaijan called for an international investigation instead.
