Russia accused of taking pictures down Azerbaijani airliner

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Russian anti-aircraft fireplace might have brought on a airplane to crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, in accordance with protection specialists and officers within the area.

The Azerbaijan Airways flight was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny in Chechnya in southern Russia when it diverted and crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 individuals. Twenty-nine passengers survived.

A lot of the passengers on the airplane, an Embraer 190, have been Azerbaijani residents. There have been additionally 16 Russians and several other residents of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on board.

In preliminary official experiences launched Wednesday, Russia stated heavy fog pressured the airplane to divert from its deliberate touchdown in Grozny and search to land in Kazakhstan, the place it crashed after hitting a volley of birds.

The identical day, Azerbaijan’s president stated he had been instructed the airplane had been diverted as a result of unhealthy climate situations.

However that was contradicted by specialists and officers within the area and Ukraine, who cited proof that Russian air defenses have been working over Grozny on the time in response to a Ukrainian drone strike. Additionally they cited photos of what seems to be shrapnel harm to the inside and tail of the destroyed airplane.

Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Nationwide Safety and Protection Council, posted on Telegram: “Russia was supposed to shut the airspace over Grozny, however it didn’t achieve this. . . The airplane was broken by the Russians and despatched to Kazakhstan, as an alternative of creating an emergency touchdown in Grozny and saving lives.”

Senior Ukrainian officers confirmed to the Monetary Occasions that kyiv believed the airplane was probably hit by Russian air protection methods.

Osprey, an aviation security company, stated: “Monitoring video of the wreckage and the circumstances surrounding the airspace safety setting in southwest Russia point out the likelihood that the plane might have was hit by some type of anti-aircraft fireplace. »

A senior official within the Caucasus area stated proof indicated the airplane was broken by air defenses over the Grozny area.

“If [Russian authorities are] go to [use] jamming methods and anti-aircraft methods, they need to have closed [the airspace]”, the official instructed the FT. “Probably the most benign rationalization [for why they did not do so] That is incompetence.

Cartography by Steven Bernard