Azerbaijan Airlines Crash: Was Ill-Fated Plane Caught In Russia-Ukraine War Crossfire?

New Delhi: Azerbaijan has launched a criminal probe into the plane crash that killed 38 people on Sunday.

The Azerbaijan Airlines flight, which took off from Baku, was flying to the Russian city of Grozny when it was diverted and crashed in Kazakhstan’s Aktau after attempting an emergency landing.

It was initially believed that an emergency may have been caused by a bird strike, forcing the pilot to send a distress signal and wanting clearance for emergency landing.

However, shrapnel marks on the rear fuselage of the Embraer 190 aircraft has sparked ‘sabotage’ theories.

Many believe that it wasn’t a pilot error or technical snag that brought down the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, but rather the plane was caught in the Russia-Ukraine war crossfire.

According to some reports, it was “likely” that the plane was shot down by a Russian forces as it may have been mistaken for a Ukrainian drone.

Citing footage of the crash, damage to the aircraft and recent military operations, UK-based aviation-security firm Osprey Flight Solutions is of the opinion that the aircraft “was likely shot down by a Russian military air-defense system”, The Wall Street Journal (WSJO reported.

“Video of the wreckage and the circumstances around the airspace security environment in southwest Russia indicates the possibility the aircraft was hit by some form of anti-aircraft fire,” Matt Borrie, Chief Intelligence Officer of the firm, told the WSJ.

Chechnya was reportedly attacked by drones on Christmas day morning, hence Russian use of air defence systems sounds logical.

Russia launched a massive Christmas day strike on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and Ukraine could have been retaliating when the passenger plane from Azerbaijan was crossing that region.

There were 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board the flight, of whom 29 people survived miraculously.

Ukrainian national security official Andriy Kovalenko said in a post on X that the plane was shot down by a Russian air-defence system.

“Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny but failed to do so. The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of being urgently landed in Grozny to save lives,” he added.

Russia’s aviation watchdog has denied claims of an attack.

“Preliminary: after a collision with birds, due to an emergency situation on board, its commander decided to go to an alternative airfield — Aktau was chosen,” it stated.