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The nationwide airways of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have suspended some flights to Russia after proof urged an Azerbaijani airplane had been downed by Russian air defence programs.
The Kazakh airline, Qazaq Air, mentioned on Friday it suspended its Astana to Ekaterinburg route, in line with the Kazinform information company, whereas Azerbaijan Airways suspended flights to seven cities within the south of Russia.
The measures had been taken after an Azerbaijan Airways flight from Baku to Russia’s regional capital, Grozny, was diverted throughout the Caspian Sea and crash-landed close to Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 of the 67 folks on board.
Video of the fuselage of the crashed plane has proven a number of puncture marks according to hearth from an anti-aircraft system. There’s additionally proof that Russia was jamming the GPS navigation system close to Grozny on the time, apparently to defend towards an assault by Ukrainian drones.
Qazaq Air mentioned it was suspending flights to Ekaterinburg till January 27 pending an “ongoing threat evaluation” of flights to Russia. Azerbaijan Airways mentioned it halted flights to Grozny and different southern Russian cities till completion of an investigation into the crash.
Israel’s flag-carrier, El Al, on Thursday additionally introduced it was suspending flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow pending a security evaluation.
Russia had insisted the plane was unable to land in Grozny due to heavy fog and that the plane had hit a flock of birds. Native authorities in Russia’s close by North Ossetia area introduced an assault by Ukrainian drones, one among which was shot down, killing a lady on the bottom. However the Kommersant newspaper reported there was no “heavy fog” forecast for Grozny on the time.
The top of Russia’s Rosaviatsia aviation company, Dmitry Yadrov, on Thursday mentioned the situations round Grozny had been “very troublesome” amid assaults from Ukrainian fight drones.
Requested on Friday about reviews of a missile strike, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned he had nothing so as to add.
The incident has invoked comparisons with Malaysia Airways flight MH17 being shot down over Ukraine in 2014. An investigation concluded that crash, which killed all 298 folks on board, was the results of the firing of an air defence missile by Russia-controlled fighters in jap Ukraine.
It isn’t clear how lengthy Kazakhstan’s investigation into the crash will take, or how free will probably be to succeed in conclusions in regards to the trigger. The probe contains investigators from Russia and Azerbaijan, in line with Kazakh officers.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned it was too early to touch upon what had induced the crash.
The plane sort concerned — an Embraer-190 regional jet — was beforehand thought to be one of many world’s most secure civil plane.
A senior US official has mentioned there are early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system may need struck the flight.
Senior Ukrainian officers advised the Monetary Occasions in addition they believed the plane was in all probability hit by an air defence missile. Andriy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian nationwide safety and defence council official, posted on Telegram on Thursday that Russia ought to have closed the airspace over Grozny, given the operations it was enterprise, however didn’t achieve this.
“The airplane was broken by the Russians and despatched to Kazakhstan, as a substitute of constructing an emergency touchdown in Grozny and saving folks’s lives,” he wrote.
Rasim Musabekov, a member of Azerbaijan’s parliament, has referred to as for Russia to apologise.
“The airplane was shot down in Russian territory, within the skies over Grozny, and this can’t be denied,” Musabekov advised the Turan information company. “That is how civilised relations work. If air defence programs are lively, the airport must be closed, and warnings must be issued to stop flights to the world.”
