Russian air defences downed plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, four sources say

Baku: Russian air defences downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the disaster have told Reuters.

Flight J2-8243 crashed on Christmas Day near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian drone strikes.

A part of Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan.Credit: AP

The Embraer passenger jet took off from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, heading for Grozny in Russia’s southern Chechnya region before veering off hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea.

It crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian after what Russia’s aviation watchdog earlier said was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.

Officials did not explain why it had crossed the sea. The nearest Russian airport on the plane’s flight path, Makhachkala, was closed at the time.

One of the Azerbaijani sources familiar with Azerbaijan’s crash investigation told Reuters that preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. Its communications were paralysed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny, the source said.

“No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft,” the source said.

Three other sources confirmed that the Azeri investigation had come to the same preliminary conclusion. Russia’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Qanat Bozymbaev said he could neither confirm nor deny the thesis that Russian air defences downed the plane.

Asked about that possibility, the Kazakh transport prosecutor for the region where the plan came down said the investigation had not yet come to a firm conclusion.

The Kremlin, asked before the Reuters report about the idea that Russian air defences had shot at the aircraft, said an investigation was ongoing and it would be improper to comment until the inquiry came to its own conclusions.

“It is wrong to build hypotheses before the conclusions of the investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Wreckage

Footage shot by passengers on the plane before it crashed showed oxygen masks hanging down and people wearing life vests. Later footage showed bloodied and bruised passengers climbing out of the plane. There were 29 survivors.

Pictures of the wreckage showed what appeared to be some sort of shrapnel damage to the aircraft’s tail section.

Aviation security firm Osprey Flight Solutions said in an alert to airlines on Wednesday that footage of the wreckage and the circumstances around the airspace in south-west Russia suggested that the airliner was hit by some form of anti-aircraft fire.

Ukrainian military drones have repeatedly targeted Russia’s southern regions in recent months, triggering Russian air defences. Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

Earlier on Christmas Day, the Russian Defence Ministry had reported the downing of 59 Ukrainian drones over several regions.

Some were reportedly shot down in closed airspace over regions bordering Ukraine, including the Sea of Azov. Flight operations were reportedly temporarily suspended at Russia’s Kazan Airport due to the activity.

In addition, publicly available ADS-B flight tracking data shows that the Azerbaijani aircraft experienced GPS jamming throughout its flight over south-west Russia, the alert said.

Russia uses advanced electronic jamming equipment to confuse Ukrainian drone location and communication systems and numerous air defence systems have been deployed to shoot down the drones.

The US National Security Council referred queries to Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani officials as the investigation continues.

A US official told Reuters there were early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, added that if the indications turn out to be accurate, they would underscore Russian recklessness in its invasion of Ukraine. Canada said it was deeply concerned by reports that Russian air defence may have struck the aircraft.

“We call on Russia to allow for an open and transparent investigation into the incident and to accept its findings,” the Canadian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X.

If confirmed, the midair strike by a missile would bear similarities to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 that killed all 298 people on board, including Australians. At the time, investigators established that a Russian missile had been fired at the Boeing 777 passenger aircraft while it traversed Ukrainian airspace, a finding that Russia has disputed.

Reuters, with Bloomberg

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