Several airlines have announced the suspension of flights to Russia following speculation that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash may have been caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed regret about the "tragic incident".
On Wednesday, an Embraer 190 aircraft from Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Aktau, western Kazakhstan, on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea while travelling from Baku to Grozny on the opposite shore. 38 of the 67 individuals on board died when the plane crashed and caught fire.
The Russian President admitted that his country's defence systems were active at the time of the crash in a phone call to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.
He apologised for the "tragic incident that happened in Russian airspace".
"The plane [...] tried to land several times at Grozny airport," he said. "At the same time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and the Russian air defense repelled these attacks."
"The main priority now is a thorough investigation to provide answers to all questions about what exactly happened," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on social media. "Russia must give clear statements and stop spreading disinformation. Photos and videos clearly show the damage to the fuselage of the plane, with holes and dents, which strongly suggests a hit by an anti-aircraft missile."
Flights cancelled
Turkmenistan Airlines, Turkmenistan's national airline, stated on Saturday that its "regular Ashgabat-Moscow-Ashgabat flights are cancelled from 30 December 2024 to 31 January 2025" without providing further explanations.
Flydubai has also cancelled its flights between Dubai and the southern Russian cities of Mineralnye Vody and Sochi, scheduled between 27 December and 3 January. Kazakh airline Qazaq Air has suspended its flights to Yekaterinburg in the Urals until the end of January.
These decisions follow Israeli airline El Al, which announced on Thursday that it would suspend its flights to Russia for a week due to the situation "in Russian airspace."
'External interference'
Before the telephone exchange between Putin and Aliyev, the White House stated that "we have seen preliminary indications suggesting the possibility that this aircraft was shot down by Russian air defence systems."
Azerbaijan Airlines has indicated that, based on preliminary investigation findings, the crash was due to "external interference, both physical and technical."
This article was updated to include additional information at 14:4o.
