A Russian air defense system likely downed an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, according to sources familiar with Azerbaijan’s preliminary investigation findings.
The Embraer 190 aircraft crashed near Aktau after diverting from its Baku-Grozny route, in an area where Russian forces frequently deploy air defenses against Ukrainian drone attacks. Twenty-nine of the 67 people aboard survived.
Four sources close to the investigation said the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S system, with communications reportedly disrupted by electronic warfare equipment during its approach to Grozny. The incident occurred on a day when Russia reported downing 59 Ukrainian drones across several regions.
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“No one claims that it was done on purpose,” one source told Reuters, adding that Baku expects Moscow to acknowledge the incident.
“It would be wrong to put forward any hypotheses before the investigation’s conclusions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
A US official reported early indications of Russian anti-aircraft involvement, while Canada called for an open and transparent investigation into the incident.
Wreckage analysis revealed apparent shrapnel damage to the tail section. A surviving passenger told Russian TV the pilot had tried twice to land in dense fog before “the third time, something exploded… some of the aircraft skin had blown out.”
Azerbaijan Airlines said the aircraft had been fully serviced in October with no technical issues. Kazakh authorities have recovered the flight data recorder.
“This is a great tragedy that has become a tremendous sorrow for the Azerbaijani people,” President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday, declaring a national day of mourning.
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