The crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, which killed 38, may have been caused by a Russian missile. Anonymous sources within the Azerbaijani government opposed this on Thursday Euronews and news agency Reuters said that the plane was damaged when a Russian missile exploded near the plane. Russia then allegedly did not give the pilot permission to make an emergency landing at a Russian airport, after which the plane had to divert to an airport in Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed on Wednesday near Aktau, a city in western Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea. The plane was initially en route from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya. After the plane was damaged, it was forced to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan. 29 passengers survived that landing.
As the plane flew over Chechnya, the Russian air force was said to have been shooting down Ukrainian drones there. Most of the countries directly involved have so far not publicly identified any culprits. For example, Kazakhstani authorities announced on Thursday that they cannot “confirm nor deny” that Russia shot down the plane. Russia quickly pointed to an official investigation, the results of which are not yet known so soon after the crash. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, has emphasized that it is too early to speculate.
Ukraine has said Russia was behind the plane crash. Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian Security Council’s Center for Combating Disinformation, wrote on X on Wednesday that the plane was “shot down by a Russian anti-aircraft system.”