Russia plays down speculation over cause of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan
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Russia plays down speculation over cause of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash. Russia and Kazakhstan have tried to calm speculation about the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, following claims it had been shot down by Russian air defence systems.
![[Rescuers transport wounded passengers from a medical plane after the Azerbaijani Airline crashed]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/26/11/Russia_Azerbaijan_Airliner_Crash_67793.jpg)
On Thursday, Moscow urged calm as its foreign minister said it would be wrong to come to conclusions before an investigation into the crash was complete. The flight had been set to travel to Grozny, the capital of Russia‘s Chechnya on Wednesday, but instead diverted and crash-landed a few kilometres short of Aktau airport in Kazakhstan.
![[Members of an investigation committee and local officials walk past the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/26/11/Kazakhstan_Azerbaijan_Airliner_Crash_73340.jpg)
Unverified video footage of the crash showed the aircraft descending and hitting the ground where it burst into flames, killing 38 of the 67 people onboard. Russia’s aviation watchdog a preliminary investigation indicated the pilot decided to change landing site after “a collision with birds”. But Reuters news agency noted the plane had diverted from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks.
On Wednesday Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council’s Center for Countering Disinformation, took to X to claim the plane was “shot down by a Russian air defence system,” claiming to have seen footage from inside the plane showing punctured life vests. Sources also made the same claim to Reuters.
