The Kremlin has asked not to raise unfounded hypotheses about the cause of the plane crash in Kazakhstan. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the incident is being investigated. The region of Chechnya, which was also the destination of the plane, has been targeted several times by the Ukrainian army. Meanwhile, some international media, citing sources close to the government of Azerbaijan, have confirmed that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the plane to crash.
The Russian government has warned against speculating about the cause of the crash of a Russia-bound passenger plane that killed 38 people in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Images of the wrecked plane appear to show shrapnel damage, and some aviation experts have suggested the Azerbaijan Airlines plane may have been hit by air defense systems over the Russian republic of Chechnya. Before crashing near the Kazakh city of Aktau, the plane diverted across the Caspian Sea from its destination in Chechnya to western Kazakhstan. Twenty-nine of the 67 people on board survived. Azerbaijan observed a day of national mourning on Thursday for the victims of the accident. For Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the investigation into this event is ongoing and drawing quick conclusions is unnecessary.
"As you rightly said, the investigation is ongoing. Every aviation incident must be investigated by the special aviation authorities. And until the investigators draw their conclusions, it would be wrong to give any hypothesis. So, no we can do it and no one should do it. We have to wait for the end of this investigation," said Peskov.
The Embraer 190 jet took off from Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Wednesday morning. He was due to fly to Grozny in Chechnya but was diverted due to fog, the airline said. A surviving passenger told Russian television that he believed the pilot had tried to land twice in dense fog over Grozny. Chechnya has already been hit by Ukrainian drone strikes this month, and authorities in neighboring Ingushetia said the Russian region had been targeted for the first time since the war in Ukraine began.
A shopping center was hit when a drone crashed in North Ossetia, killing a woman, reports said. (A2 Televizion)
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