USA believe there is signs that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have hit the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane that crashed into Kazakhstanaccording to US media reports.
According to ABC News and CNN, which cite official US sources that they do not identify, there is evidence that the passenger plane may have been shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile from a Pantsir-S1 system.
ABC News needs you Russia actually attacked the Azerbaijan plane, it would be another example of Moscow’s recklessness in the war with Ukraine. The plane was flying over an area where the Klemlin air defense has recently fought against Ukrainian drones.
Another official source informed CNN that early indications suggest that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have shot down the passenger plane in which at least 38 people were killed and another 29 were injured.
The signs point to A Russian system attacked Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 before it crashed near the city of AktauThe US official told CNN.
If these indications are ultimately confirmed, it may have been a case of mistaken identity, in which poorly trained Russian units negligently fired on Ukrainian drones, the US official said.
The plane was flying from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Chechnya (Russia)when it crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan. The flight had been diverted to Aktau due to fog, according to Russian news agencies.
Sources from the Government of Azerbaijan point to shrapnel from a missile
Two Azerbaijani government sources told EFE on Thursday that flight 8432, coming from Baku, was hit by shrapnel from a surface-to-air missile when it was in the airspace of the Russian city of Grozny, its destination point.
According to Azerbaijani media, which asks Moscow to take responsibility for the events, the accident could have been caused by the action of Russian anti-aircraft defenses to repel an attack by Ukrainian drones in the North Caucasus that coincided with the flight of the plane, a model of the Brazilian company Embraer.
The Government of Azerbaijan has avoided commenting on the matter pointing out that at the moment it is not linked to an exclusive version and called to wait for the results of the investigations.
While, The Kremlin also asked not to rush to conclusions about the causes of the plane crash, whose black boxes were found on Thursday at the scene of the tragedy.
“During the inspection of the accident site, two flight recorders were discovered that will be handed over to the Air Accident Investigation Department,” transport prosecutor of the Mangystau region of Kazakhstan, Abilaibek Ordabaev, said at a press conference.
He added that the inspection work at the accident site, which covers an area of more than 4,000 square meters, is “in the final stage.”
