A Russian anti-aircraft system caused the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Four sources from Azerbaijan who are familiar with the investigation told Reuters on Thursday, TASR reports.
Thirty-eight people died in the crash of an Embraer 190 plane heading from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny. The crash occurred after the flight deviated hundreds of kilometers from its planned route in an area where Russia has begun using air defense systems in recent months.
According to Russian sources, at the time the plane flew over, the units were actively trying to shoot down the Ukrainian drone, wrote the station Euronews. Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakh officials are demanding an investigation into the crash. The missile was fired from the Pancir-S air defense system, the Baku-based AnewZ station reported, citing Azerbaijani government sources.
The Pancir-S system was also discussed by one of the Reuters sources, who referred to the preliminary results of the Azerbaijani investigation. “No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to admit the downing of the Azerbaijani plane,” the source declared.
Russia called for restraint on Thursday, saying that it is not correct to speculate before the conclusions of the investigation, DPA reported. “An investigation is underway, every incident in air transport must be investigated by specialized authorities,” a Kremlin spokesman said.
