An Azerbaijani minister suggested on Friday that an airliner that crashed this week was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor evidence indicating that the plane was struck from the outside.
The statement from Rashad Nabiyev raised pressure on Russia.
Officials in Moscow have said a drone attack was under way in the region that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was destined for but have not addressed statements from aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defences responding to a Ukrainian attack.
Russia’s aviation chief said earlier on Friday that a Ukrainian drone attack was under way in the Russian region that an airliner was destined for before it diverted and crashed earlier this week.
Dmitry Yadrov, of Rosaviatsia, did not comment on statements by an Azerbaijani politician and some aviation experts who blamed Wednesday’s Azerbaijan Airlines crash on Russian air defences responding to a Ukrainian attack.
The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land there.
The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.
A search of the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan’s Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
Azerbaijan Airlines on Friday blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports.
It did not say where the interference came from or provide any further details.
Mr Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital development and transportation, told Azerbaijani media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact”. as does witness testimony.
“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” Mr Nabiyev said.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.
Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli said that after one loud noise, the oxygen masks automatically released. She said that she went to perform first aid on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, and then they heard another bang.
Mr Asadov said that the noises sounded like something hitting the plane from outside. He denied Kazakh officials’ claim that an oxygen canister exploded inside the plane.
Authorities in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia have been tight-lipped about a possible cause pending an official probe. But a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament, Rasim Musabekov, told the Azerbaijani news agency Turan on Thursday that the plane was fired on while in the skies over Grozny and urged Russia to offer an official apology.
Asked about Mr Musabekov’s statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment, saying that it will be up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash.
“The air incident is being investigated, and we don’t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Mr Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
The head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in St Petersburg, Vagif Mamishev, lays flowers at the consulate of Azerbaijan in the city (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)
Mr Yadrov, the Russian aviation chief, said that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.
Mr Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful attempts to land in Grozny, he was offered other airports but decided to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea.
“The situation in the area of Grozny airport was quite difficult,” he said in a statement. “There are many circumstances that it’s necessary to investigate jointly.”
Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as part of the crash probe, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement.
As the probe began, some aviation experts pointed out that holes seen in the plane’s tail section suggested that it could have come under fire from Russian air defence systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.
Ukrainian drones have previously attacked Grozny and other areas in the country’s North Caucasus.
FlightRadar24 said in an online post that the aircraft faced “strong GPS jamming” that interfered with flight tracking data. Russia has extensively used sophisticated jamming equipment to fend off drone attacks.
Following Wednesday’s suspension of flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala, Azerbaijan Airlines announced on Friday that it would also halt service to eight more Russian cities.
The company will continue to operate flights to six Russian cities, including Moscow and St Petersburg. Those cities also have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes in the past.
Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air also announced on Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains for a month.
FlyDubai also halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russian until January 5.
The day before, Israel’s El Al carrier suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing “developments in Russia’s airspace”. The airline said it would reassess the situation next week.