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The national airlines of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have suspended some flights to Russia after evidence that an Azerbaijani airliner was shot down by Russian air defense systems.
Kazakh airline Qazaq Air said on Friday it had suspended its Astana-Ekaterinburg route, according to Kazinform news agencywhile Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights to seven cities in southern Russia.
The measures were taken after an Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku to the Russian capital, Grozny, overturned in the Caspian Sea and crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
A video of the crushed fuselage of the plane showed several marks consistent with fire from an anti-aircraft system. There is also evidence that Russia disabled the GPS system near Grozny at the time, apparently to protect against Ukrainian drone attacks.
Kazakh Air said it was suspending flights to Ekaterinburg until January 27 pending an “ongoing risk assessment” of flights to Russia. Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended flights to Grozny and other cities in southern Russia until an investigation into the crash is completed.
IsraelThe flag carrier, El Al, on Thursday announced that it was suspending flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow pending a security assessment.
Russia insisted that the plane could not land in Grozny because of heavy fog and the plane hit a flock of birds. Authorities in the Russian region near North Ossetia announced an attack by Ukrainian drones, one of which was shot down and killed a woman. But the Kommersant newspaper reported that there was no “heavy fog” in Grozny at the time.
The head of the Rosaviatsia aviation agency, Dmitry Yadrov, said on Thursday that conditions around Grozny were “very difficult” amid attacks by Ukrainian fighter drones.
Asked Friday about reports of missile strikes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had nothing to add.
This event has asked for comparison with Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine in 2014. he concluded the crash, which killed all 298 people on board, was the result of an anti-aircraft missile being fired by Russian-controlled fighters in eastern Ukraine.
It is unclear how long Kazakhstan's investigation into the crash will take, or how soon it will be possible to reach conclusions about the cause. Research involves researchers from Russia and Azerbaijan, according to Kazakh officials.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said it was too early to say what caused the crash.
The type of aircraft involved – the Embraer-190 regional jet – was previously considered the safest aircraft in the world.
A senior US official said there were early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have shot down the plane.
High-ranking Ukrainian officials you have been told The Financial Times also believe the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile. Andriy Kovalenko, an official of Ukraine's national security council, sent on Telegram on Thursday that Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny, because of the activities it was doing, but it didn't.
He wrote: “The plane was damaged by the Russians and sent to Kazakhstan, instead of arriving quickly in Grozny and saving people's lives.”
Rasim Musabekov, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament, called on Russia to apologize.
“The plane was shot down on Russian territory, in the sky over Grozny, and this cannot be denied,” Musabekov told the Turan news agency. “This is how civilized relations work. If air defense systems are active, the airport should be closed, and warnings should be issued to prevent flights to the area. “