Crash in Kazakhstan USA and Azerbaijan suspect Russian hit on passenger plane
The investigation into the causes of the crash of a passenger plane in Kazakhstan is underway. The case brings back memories of a tragedy over eastern Ukraine ten years ago.
27.12.2024, 05:03
dpa
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- Like Azerbaijan, the USA is not ruling out a Russian air defense miss as the cause of the crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane in Kazakhstan.
- According to a US government representative, initial indications suggest that the plane was shot down, as reported by CNN and ABC News, among others.
- The crash near the Kazakh city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea on Wednesday killed 38 of the 67 people on board. 29 people survived, many of them seriously injured.
- At an early stage, military bloggers from Russia as well as Ukrainian representatives pointed out the possibility that the plane had been damaged by Russian air defense.
Like Azerbaijan, the USA has not ruled out the possibility of a Russian air defense miss as the cause of the crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane in Kazakhstan. According to a US government representative, initial indications suggest that the plane was shot down, as reported by CNN and ABC News, among others. If the initial indications are confirmed, it is conceivable that poorly trained Russian units could have mistaken the target when defending against Ukrainian drones, the official said.
The crash near the Kazakh city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea on Wednesday killed 38 of the 67 people on board. 29 people survived, many of them seriously injured. The Embraer 190 aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines was supposed to be flying from the capital Baku to Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya. That morning, Russian air defense was deployed in several regions in the North Caucasus due to drones from Ukraine.
At an early stage, military bloggers from Russia as well as Ukrainian representatives pointed out the possibility of the aircraft being damaged by Russian air defense. Internet aircraft trackers such as Flightradar24 reported that the GPS data on the exact position of the aircraft over Russia had been disrupted. Images of the tail of the wreckage showed small holes that look like splinters from anti-aircraft missiles.
Baku leaks accusations
In an initial reaction, the Kremlin warned against premature speculation. On Thursday afternoon, however, the Azerbaijani leadership massively spread the assumption that the plane had been hit by a Russian Panzir-S anti-aircraft missile. Citing unnamed government representatives in Baku, local and international media reported that the plane had been damaged on its approach to Grozny.
There was particular outrage in Azerbaijan that the plane was allegedly denied an emergency landing at nearby Russian airports due to bad weather. The pilots had to maneuver the almost uncontrollable plane over the Caspian Sea to Aktau. Altitude and speed fluctuated considerably. During an attempt to land in Aktau, the plane crashed.
Small holes in the tail of the wreckage look like the impact of fragments from an anti-aircraft missile.
Image: dpa
Search for survivors in the wreckage of the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer. (December 26, 2024)
Image: Keystone/Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP
Rescue workers search for survivors with dogs after the crash.
Image: Keystone/Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP
An aerial view of the crash site.
Image: Keystone/Sputnik
Azerbaijan is celebrating the return of every survivor of the plane crash in Kazakhstan.
Image: dpa
289 people were killed when a Malaysian Boeing was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
Small holes in the tail of the wreckage look like the impact of fragments from an anti-aircraft missile.
Image: dpa
Search for survivors in the wreckage of the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer. (December 26, 2024)
Image: Keystone/Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP
Rescue workers search for survivors with dogs after the crash.
Image: Keystone/Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP
An aerial view of the crash site.
Image: Keystone/Sputnik
Azerbaijan is celebrating the return of every survivor of the plane crash in Kazakhstan.
Image: dpa
289 people were killed when a Malaysian Boeing was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
Survivors are brought back to Azerbaijan
On Thursday, seven more injured survivors were flown to Baku in an Azerbaijani civil protection aircraft. A plane had already brought several survivors and dead victims back to their home country of Azerbaijan.
The Israeli airline El Al canceled all flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow for this week. The reason was "developments in Russian airspace", the airline announced. It will reassess the situation next week and decide whether to resume flights.
The massive accusations against the belligerent country were not reported in Russian state media. President Vladimir Putin gave a short press conference after a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union near St. Petersburg, but said nothing about the plane crash.
Memories of the downing of a Malaysian Boeing in 2014
If the version of a fatal miss by Russian air defense is confirmed, it would be the second case after 2014, when the Ukrainian army was fighting a covert Russian military operation in the east of the country, disguised as an uprising by separatists. On July 17, 2014, a Russian Buk air defence system accidentally shot down a Malaysia Airlines Boeing over eastern Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. 289 people lost their lives.
To this day, Moscow denies any responsibility for the tragedy and speaks of a Western insinuation. Journalistic research and investigations by the Dutch judiciary have provided clear evidence of the Buk system's route from Russia to the Ukrainian conflict zone and back. Three Russians responsible were sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia by a court in the Netherlands in 2022.
How will the countries concerned behave towards Moscow?
However, the situation is different this time, partly because there are the survivors as possible witnesses. The Netherlands, which was worst affected in 2014, was considered a hostile Western country towards Russia. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are countries that Moscow counts among its allies.
However, Azerbaijan, which has become rich through energy exports, is largely independent of Russia and can also make a strong stand against Moscow. Central Asian Kazakhstan, which has a long border with Russia and a large Russian minority, must act more cautiously. The Kazakh authorities responsible for investigating the crash have so far been reluctant to comment on the cause.