{"id":85904,"date":"2024-12-27T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/12\/27\/russian-air-defenses-may-have-downed-azerbaijani-plane-us-official\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:17:34","slug":"russian-air-defenses-may-have-downed-azerbaijani-plane-us-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2024\/12\/27\/russian-air-defenses-may-have-downed-azerbaijani-plane-us-official\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian air defenses may have downed Azerbaijani plane: U.S. official"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Russian air defense systems may have brought down an Azerbaijani airliner this week<\/a>, a U.S. official said Friday after an Azerbaijani minister also suggested the plane was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday\u2019s assessments by Rashad Nabiyev and White House national security spokesman John Kirby echoed those made by outside aviation experts<\/a> who blamed the crash on Russian air defense systems responding to a Ukrainian attack. These statements raised pressure on Russia, where officials said a drone attack was underway in the region where the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was heading for a landing. They did not address statements blaming air defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby told reporters on Friday that the U.S. \u201c[has] seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems,\u201d but refused to elaborate, citing an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pressed on whether the U.S. has intelligence that helped lead to that conclusion, or was simply relying on informed speculation from experts based on visual assessments of the crash, Kirby characterized the short answer as \u201cyes\u201d but said he\u2019d \u201cleave it at that,\u201d without providing further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plane was flying from Azerbaijan\u2019s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday when it turned toward Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land<\/a>. The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nabiyev, Azerbaijan\u2019s minister of digital development and transportation, told Azerbaijani media that \u201cpreliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,\u201d as does witness testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,\u201d Nabiyev said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli said that after one noise, the oxygen masks automatically released. She said that she went to perform first aid on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, and then they heard another bang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asadov said that the noises sounded like something hitting the plane from outside. Shortly afterward, he sustained a sudden injury like a \u201cdeep wound, the arm was lacerated as if someone hit me in the arm with an ax,\u201d he added. He denied a claim from Kazakh officials that an oxygen canister exploded inside the plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other survivors recounted hearing explosions before the plane went down. Jerova Salihat told Azerbaijani television in an interview in the hospital that \u201csomething exploded\u201d near her leg, and Vafa Shabanova said that \u201cthere were two explosions in the sky, and an hour and a half later the plane crashed to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia\u2019s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, said Friday that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful attempts to land, he was offered other airports but decided to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He didn\u2019t comment on statements from some aviation experts, who pointed out that holes seen in the plane\u2019s tail section suggested that it could have come under fire from Russian air defense systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainian drones have previously attacked Grozny and other areas in the Russian North Caucasus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Azerbaijan Airlines blamed the crash on unspecified \u201cphysical and technical interference\u201d and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. It didn\u2019t say where the interference came from or provide any further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the claims that the plane was hit by Russian air defenses, saying that it will be up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe air incident is being investigated, and we don\u2019t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,\u201d Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s proven that the plane crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses, it would be the second deadly civil aviation accident<\/a> linked to fighting in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people aboard, as it flew over the area in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022<\/a> convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for their role in downing the plane with an air defense system brought into Ukraine from a Russian military base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as part of the probe of Wednesday\u2019s crash, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Wednesday\u2019s suspension of flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala, Azerbaijan Airlines announced Friday that it would also halt service to eight more Russian cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company will continue to operate flights to six Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Those cities also have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kazakhstan\u2019s Qazaq Air also announced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains for a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FlyDubai also halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russia for the next few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day before, Israel\u2019s El Al carrier suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing \u201cdevelopments in Russia\u2019s airspace.\u201d The airline said it would reassess the situation next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moscow officials have not addressed statements from aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian 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