Russia ‘mistook Azerbaijan plane for drone & shot it down with missile’ killing 38 as panicky Putin closed air space
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RUSSIA misidentified the Azerbaijan plane for a drone and shot it down with a missile, US intelligence believes. The Christmas Day disaster saw the aircraft explode into a fireball near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38. There were initial reports suggesting the Azerbaijan Airlines plane could have been brought down by mad Vlad, especially as just one minute after the crash Russia shut down the air space, blogger VChK-OGPU claims.
![[The crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/drone-view-shows-crash-site-959730681.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Now two US military officials have told NBC that intelligence indicates the Russians may have misidentified the aircraft - and shot it down. Russian forces believed it was a drone and engaged their air defences, the intelligence suggests. This was partially due to the aircraft's irregular flight pattern and altitude, officials said.
![[The plane exploded into a fireball as it crash landed]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-screengrab-video-obtained-social-959903472_f0931e.jpg?strip=all&w=540)
But both have stressed that an investigation continues. Russian officials have warned against speculation about what caused the fatal crash. But the country's aviation authority dubbed the situation in Russia's airspace as "very complicated" when the plane was diverted to Kazakhstan.
The Embraer 190 plane had been travelling from Baku, in Azerbaijan, to Grozny, in Russia's Chechnya on Christmas before it crash landed. Four sources told Reuters previously that the plane was downed by the Russian air defences as it flew over the country.
![[Oxygen masks came down inside the plane as it started to hurtle towards the ground]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image_544b7a.jpeg?strip=all&w=535)
