Russian anti-aircraft system may have hit plane, US official says

The first information emerging from the crash in Kazakhstan of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane carrying 67 people points to the responsibility of a Russian air defense system, a US official said Thursday.

The statements of this official, speaking on condition of anonymity, come after the publication of information from some international media according to which the Azerbaijani authorities believe that a Russian missile was at the origin of this crash which killed 38 people.

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Visible impacts

Military and aviation experts said, commenting on visible impacts on the wreckage of the Embraer 190 aircraft, that it may have been accidentally shot down by a Russian air defense system as it approached its destination airport. .

The plane, which ultimately crashed in Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea, was flying from Azerbaijan to the Russian republic of Chechnya, where Ukrainian drone attacks had been reported in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Russian authorities reported drone strikes in two neighboring regions of Chechnya, North Ossetia and Ingushetia, hundreds of kilometers from the Ukrainian front line.

International channel Euronews said a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the crash, citing Azerbaijani government sources on condition of anonymity. The missile was reportedly fired during “drone aerial activity above Grozny”capital of Chechnya where the plane was to land, the media added. Caliber, a pro-government Azerbaijani website, reported that it was likely a Pantsir-S air defense system missile, again citing government sources. The American newspaper The New York Times published similar information.

Russia warns

So did Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency, which claimed the plane’s communications system had been crippled by electronic jamming used by Russia. The specialized site Flightradar24, which tracks the flights, indicated that the aircraft had suffered during its flight “significant GPS interference”.

Earlier Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov assured that it was necessary “wait for the end of the investigation”. “It would be inappropriate to make any assumptions prior to the findings of the investigation. We won’t do it and no one should.”he insisted. The authorities of Kazakhstan, a close ally of Russia, also denounced “speculations”. The Russian civil aviation agency (Rosaviatsia) indicated on Wednesday that the plane had hit a flock of birds. Experts have nevertheless cast doubt on this version. Bird strikes on the structure, “it doesn’t stop the plane from flying”a former expert from the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) told AFP, on condition of anonymity.