Crashed Azerbaijani airliner hit by live fire, electronic warfare over Russia, Azerbaijan's president says
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane was rendered "uncontrollable" by electronic warfare and damaged by fire from the ground while flying over Russia before crashing, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told the media, the Trend News Agency reported on Dec. 29.
Flight J2-8243 was flying from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to Grozny in Chechnya before changing course and crashing in Kazakhstan on Dec. 25, killing 38 people. Multiple reports and official statements indicated that Russian air defense fire was responsible for the disaster.
"Of course, the final version will be known after the black boxes are opened. But the initial versions are also well-founded and based on facts," Aliyev said in an interview with the state-run Azerbaijan Television.
"And the facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian aircraft was damaged from the outside, over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and practically lost control.
"We also know that our aircraft was rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare," the Azerbaijani president said, adding that the tail section was seriously damaged as a result of fire from the ground.
Putin, who has fostered close economic and political ties with Azerbaijan, called Aliyev to apologize "for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace" without commenting on whether the plane was hit by Russian air defenses.
The Kremlin said that the plane made multiple attempts to land at Grozny airport during a Ukrainian drone attack, which was reportedly repelled by Russian air defenses.
Western countries said the disaster was a result of Russia's "reckless" behavior and called for a transparent investigation.
Oleg Sukhov
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