Russia’s air defence systems were responsible for the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on Christmas Day in Kazakhstan killing at least 38 people, including both pilots, according to Azerbaijani media quoting government sources in Baku, which reportedly concluded that the aircraft was shot down during a Ukrainian drone attack over Grozny that the Chechen authorities are now trying to cover up.
Flight J2-8243 between Baku and Grozny, which had taken off early on 25 December with 62 passengers and five crew on board, was diverted for as yet unclear reasons off its route to the Caspian Sea, from where it attempted an emergency landing in the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, crashing about 3 km from the city. Footage recorded by several witnesses to the crash showed the aircraft struggling to stay airborne until it finally touched down and exploded, breaking into several pieces.
While many questions about the tragedy remain unanswered, Azerbaijani newspapers such as AnewZ have in recent hours published reports, based on Azerbaijani government sources close to the investigation, that the preliminary results of the investigation show clear evidence that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane was shot down by a Pantsir air defence system as it approached the Russian city of Grozny.
According to the Azeri newspaper, the aircraft’s communication systems were rendered completely useless due to Russia’s use of electromagnetic signal jamming systems, which explains why the plane disappeared from radar as it entered Russian airspace, as reported by websites such as FlightRadar24, which attributed it to strong interference with the plane’s GPS system. Only after leaving Russian airspace and entering the Caspian Sea was the plane’s signal restored.
‘They wanted the plane to fall into the sea, they wanted all the witnesses to die’
AnewZ recalls that, coinciding with the entry of the Azeri plane into Chechen airspace, Russian air defences attempted to shoot down several Ukrainian drones, as later confirmed by the head of security of the Chechen Republic, Khamzat Kadyrov, who indicated that the attack by Ukraine had caused no damage or injuries, despite initial attempts by the Chechen authorities to conceal it, as reported by Ukrainian media. In any case, as AnewZ stresses, Russia was obliged to close the airspace in the region to civilian aircraft, which it failed to do, with the consequences that followed.
The Azerbaijani newspaper adds that, according to reports of the accident, despite the damage sustained in the attack, the Grozny airport refused the plane permission to land, and the plane was also denied permission to land at the airports of Makhachkala (capital of Dagestan) and Mineralnye Vody, another city in the Russian Caucasus. With severe damage to the fuselage and with the plane’s electronic and GPS systems failing due to Russian jamming, the crew – who were subjected to great stress and confusion – were advised by the Russian authorities to land at Aktau on the other side of the Caspian, according to the newspaper.
‘Presumably, this recommendation was given for one purpose: for the plane to fall into the Caspian Sea, all witnesses would be killed and the plane would sink… Video footage from the cabin of the plane shows that two passengers were injured by shrapnel. All testimonies, including those concerning explosions heard overboard, point to the work of air defenses,’ AnewZ stresses. Several videos that have circulated on social media also show obvious shrapnel impacts on the wreckage of the plane‘s fuselage after it crashed.
The newspaper concludes that what happened to Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 ‘is absolutely obvious’ to the Azerbaijani public and that Russia ‘should confess to shooting down the Azeri plane’ and bring those responsible to justice. Moscow has so far not commented on these accusations, and has limited itself to issuing a statement asking to avoid any speculation about the plane’s crash.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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