The Kremlin has declined to state that Russian forces were responsible for downing the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 on December 25, 2024. Russia acknowledged that its air defense systems were active at the time of the incident to shoot down Ukrainian drones but has stopped short of saying it brought down the aircraft.

Experts say evidence in the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan points to a possible midair explosion, not an encounter with a flock of birds.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally downing an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering up the cause.

Both Putin and Aliyev said Saturday that experts from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan had begun probing the incident, and were launching inquiries in both Grozny and Aktau. Moscow has launched a criminal investigation into the crash. Aliyev said Sunday ...

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was scheduled to travel from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, a city in the Russian region of Chechnya, on Wednesday, but was diverted and ultimately crashed on the other side of the Caspian Sea, less than two miles from the airport in Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Russia's aviation watchdog said on Friday that an Azerbaijan Airlines plane which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday had decided to reroute from its original destination in Chechnya amid dense fog and a local alert over Ukrainian drones.

Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, initially said it appeared the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike. Later, Russian and Azerbaijani officials suggested the plane had been ...

On Dec. 25, an Embraer 190 plane, operating as Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia, crashed near Aktau International Airport in Kazakhstan. The crash ...

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally ... Embraer 190 on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024.

Moscow threatens retaliation after EU blocks state media on Telegram - Vladimir Putin faces mounting pressure to admit responsibility for Azerbaijan plane crash in Kazakhstan

Ukraine is now waging drone warfare across Russia, and there is growing speculation that Russian air defenses may have mistaken the jetliner as a drone and hit it.