Baku sources claim that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was shot down by Russian air defense
Kazakhstan has announced that it is conducting its own investigation into the crash but has not yet released any public conclusions regarding the cause.
Emergency workers at the crash site of flight 8432.
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan government authorities are investigating the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Wednesday that killed nearly 40 people. While Kazakhstan has yet to draw any conclusions, sources in Baku suggest that a Russian missile may have been responsible for the crash.
The Brazilian-made Embraer 190, carrying 62 passengers and five crew members, was on a route between Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, and Grozny, the capital of the Russian Chechnya republic.
The plane landed in Kazakhstan, near the Caspian Sea. Kazakhstan's investigation is facing growing pressure from multiple sources, which suggest that the aircraft may have been downed by Russian air defenses deployed in Chechnya.
After Kazakh emergency services released images of the crash, experts noted several indications suggesting that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane may have been hit by shrapnel or anti-aircraft ammunition. This hypothesis is further supported by the opinion of a French military aviator, as quoted by AFP.
Adding to the complexity, Chechen authorities reported the deployment of anti-aircraft batteries after detecting "drones" in their airspace. In response, Kazakhstan swiftly condemned the "speculations" surrounding the crash, emphasizing that there is no official hypothesis at this stage. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated, "We must wait for the end of the investigation."
The chairman of the Kazakh Senate, the upper house of Parliament, Maulen Ashimbayev, claimed that "it is not possible" to say at the moment what caused this catastrophe.
"The real experts are investigating and will come to their conclusions. Neither Kazakhstan, nor Russia, nor Azerbaijan have any interest in concealing information," he said, quoted by the official Russian agency TASS.
Several specialists from the Kazakh Transport Ministry, as well as a delegation from the Azerbaijani civil aviation agency and representatives of Azerbaijan Airlines are participating in the investigation.
Officials from Embraer and the Brazilian Center for Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention (CENIPA) are also expected to arrive in Kazakhstan, according to Kazakh authorities.
Azeri government sources indicate Russia could be behind the crash
This Thursday, Euronews and Reuters published a report in which Azeri government sources claim that a Russian surface-to-air missile shot down the Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Aktau on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan initially claimed on Wednesday that the crash was caused by a flock of birds.
However, this new version, yet to be confirmed, claims that the missile was fired at Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 in response to drone aerial activity over Grozny, Cherchenia. According to Euronews sources, the missile exploded near the aircraft and its shrapnel hit the aircraft and the people on board.
Euronews sources claim that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was not allowed to land at any Russian airport despite requests for an emergency landing. It was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea in the direction of Aktau in Kazakhstan. According to the data, the plane's GPS navigation systems were jammed during the entire flight path over the sea.
If Euronews' reports are true, it would be the second time that Russia has shot down a civilian airliner with passengers on board. Something similar happened with Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down with a Russian missile while flying over Ukrainian Donetsk. 248 people were killed.
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