Speculation was mounting Friday that Russia's military could have had a role in the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people and left 29 survivors injured in Kazakhstan on Christmas day, with experts casting doubt on Moscow's suggestion that a bird strike was to blame.
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, an Embraer 190 aircraft, was flying from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the city of Grozny in Russia's North Caucasus region Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons that were still unclear two days later. At some point during the flight the plane's GPS tracking was reportedly jammed, leading to significant deviations in the flightpath.
The plane crashed while trying to reach another airport in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan, after flying east across the Caspian Sea. It came down and burst into a ball of flames only about two miles from the Aktau airport.
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia all opened investigations into the cause of the crash, but it was Russia facing the most pointed questions two days later. The Kremlin has urged people not to jump to conclusions, and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, who's forged closer ties between his country and Russia during his two decades in power, also said it was too soon to speculate.
"The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing," he said, as Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, suggested the bird strike theory.
But a U.S. official told CBS News there were early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the plane in a region where Ukrainian and Russian forces have traded drone and rocket fire for months. The official, who spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity, said if that proved to be true, it would further underscore Russia's recklessness in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/azerbaijan-airlines-plane-crash-kazakhstan-russia-ukraine-war/
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