On December 25, 2024, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed near the Kazakh town of Aktau, killing 38 of the 67 people on board. The Embraer 190, traveling from Baku to Grozny, encountered difficulties during its landing attempt.
The accident took place in a particularly tense context, while Russian air defense systems were repelling Ukrainian drone attacks in the Grozny region, Russia.
Following this tragedy, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his “sincere apologies” during a telephone interview with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev. However, he was clear on one point: Putin did not recognize Russia’s responsibility for the accident. His apology was limited to the fact that the incident occurred in Russian airspace. He also said that the Azerbaijani plane tried several times to land at Grozny airport, but did not confirm that the plane was hit by Russian fire.
Suspicion nevertheless falls on Russia, in particular because of the testimonies of survivors and crew members, who spoke of perforations in the cabin of the plane. According to President Aliyev, this damage is consistent with a Russian air defense missile strike. Testimonies from passengers and flight attendants reinforced this hypothesis.
The incident highlighted the complexity of the ongoing investigation. If Russia opened a criminal investigation to determine the exact causes of the accident, the Azerbaijani government, for its part, insisted on the need for an international investigation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also expressed his condolences and supported the call for a thorough investigation, while pointing out that photos and videos of the plane’s damage appeared to indicate an air defense missile strike.
The Embraer 190 crash adds to a blacklist of air accidents in a region marked by growing geopolitical tensions.
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