Azerbaijani government sources confirmed exclusively to Euronews on Thursday that the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Aktau on Wednesday was caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile.
According to these sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during unmanned aerial activity over Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and crew when it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight.
Government sources told Euronews that the stricken plane was not allowed to land at any Russian airport, despite the pilots requesting an emergency landing, and was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan.
According to the data, the aircraft's GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight over the sea.
The missile was fired from the Pantsir-S air defence system, said international server AnewZ from Baku citing Azerbaijani government sources.
According to Russian sources, while the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was flying over Chechen territory, Russian air defence forces were actively trying to shoot down Ukrainian drones.
Head of the Security Council of the Chechen Republic Khamzat Kadyrov confirmed that there was a drone attack on Grozny on Wednesday morning, noting that there were no casualties or damage.
If these preliminary data are confirmed, it will be the second time in a decade that Russian forces have destroyed a transport plane after the crash of MH17 in Ukraine. This time, the victims include both Russia's own citizens and citizens of neighbouring countries.
The crash is also reminiscent of an earlier incident in November 2018, when an Air Astana Embraer 190 failed hydraulically over Portugal, but landed safely with the help of the Portuguese Air Force.
Further investigations into Wednesday's crash are expected to reveal the circumstances of the missile launch, the failure to land at a nearby airport in Russia and the instruction to fly the damaged plane across the sea.
Euronews/ gnews - RoZ
PHOTO - Facebook Euronews
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