(Moscow) Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday without clearly saying whether the Azerbaijan Airlines plane which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday had been hit by a Russian missile, while anti-aircraft defense was in action at the time he was trying to land in Grozny, Russia.
Posted at 7:42 a.m.
Updated at 9:30 a.m.
What you need to know
- The European Union on Saturday called for a “rapid and independent” investigation into the Azerbaijan Airlines crash, after the United States suggested the incident may have been caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile;
- On Wednesday, an Embraer 190 plane from the Azerbaijani company Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in western Kazakhstan, on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, while the plane was supposed to connect Baku to Grozny, on the opposite shore;
- In all, 38 of the 67 people on board the plane were killed when the plane crashed and caught fire;
- Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Saturday, according to the Kremlin, that Russian air defenses were in action Wednesday as the plane attempted to land.
The Russian president did not say whether the shots hit the Embraer, as the United States suspects and as the president of Azerbaijan implies, but apologized to Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that “this tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace,” according to the Kremlin. The accident left 38 dead.
In a telephone interview on Saturday with his Azerbaijani counterpart, the master of the Kremlin indicated that “the Azerbaijani airliner had tried several times to land at the airport of Grozny”, the capital of Chechnya, its destination, in the Russian Caucasus.
But “at the same time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian anti-aircraft defenses repelled these attacks,” he said, according to a press release from the Russian presidency.
For his part, the Azerbaijani president stressed that the plane had been struck “in Russian airspace” by “external physical interference”, supporting the theory of a shot without formally accusing Russia, a regional power with which Baku maintains close relations.
M. Aliev « a souligné que les multiples trous dans le fuselage de l’avion, les blessures subies par les passagers et l’équipage […] as well as the testimonies of the surviving flight attendants and passengers confirm the evidence of external physical and technical interference,” the Azerbaijani presidency said in a statement summarizing a conversation between the two presidents.
“An explosion”
These comments come after several days of speculation on the causes of the incident, the holes in the cabin suggesting an anti-aircraft missile strike.
The White House assured Friday that it had “preliminary indications that suggest the possibility that this plane was shot down by Russian air defense systems.”
Shortly before the conversation between Mr. Aliev and Mr. Putin, the Kremlin considered it “inappropriate” to comment on these remarks, citing the ongoing investigation.
The European Union called on Saturday for a “rapid and independent” investigation into the crash, through its head of diplomacy, Kaja Kallas. She spoke of “a brutal reminder” of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down by a pro-Russian rebel missile over Ukraine in 2014.
On Wednesday, the Embraer 190 plane of the Azerbaijani company Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in western Kazakhstan, on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, while the plane was supposed to connect Baku to Grozny, two cities located on the shore opposite.
PHOTO AZIZ KARIMOV, REUTERS
Mourners carry the body of Mahammadali Eganov, 13, who died in the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer jetliner near the Kazakh city of Aktau on December 28 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Russian authorities had already mentioned a Ukrainian drone attack against Grozny, capital of Chechnya, on the day of the disaster, as well as thick fog. But they did not explain how these events could have led to the crash.
They also did not explain why the plane could not land elsewhere in southern Russia, and why it had to cross the Caspian Sea.
In all, 38 of the 67 people on board the plane were killed when the plane crashed. A passenger who survived the crash also spoke of an explosion outside the plane.
“There was an explosion. That’s for sure. Everyone heard it,” confirmed one of the Russian survivors, of Tajik origin, Soubkhonkoul Rakhimov, to the Russian television channel RT. But “I wouldn’t say it was inside the plane,” he added.
Since the disaster, several companies have indicated that they are suspending flights to Russia.
PHOTO AZIZ KARIMOV, REUTERS
A man places a photo of Mahammadali Eganov, 13, who died in the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer jetliner, at his grave in Baku, Azerbaijan, December 28, 2024.
Canceled flights
In Turkmenistan, a country bordering the Caspian, the company Turkmenistan Airlines announced on Saturday that “regular Ashkhabad-Moscow-Ashkhabad flights are canceled from December 30, 2024 to January 31, 2025”.
Flydubai has canceled its flights between Dubai and the southern Russian cities Mineralnye Vody and Sochi, scheduled between December 27 and January 3.
The Kazakh company Qazaq Air has suspended its route to Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, until the end of January.
They follow in the footsteps of the Israeli company El Al, which indicated on Thursday that it was suspending its flights to Russia for a week.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev praised the work of rescuers on Saturday, with 29 people having survived. “We were able to avoid much more serious consequences and save many lives,” he said, according to the Kazakh presidency.
According to the Kazakh authorities, 17 experts of different nationalities are participating in the investigations. Among them, two Russians and Brazilians, Embraer being a Brazilian manufacturer.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is also to join the investigation.
