Israel’s airline halts Moscow flights after Russian missile reportedly downs civilian plane

Israeli airline El Al has canceled flights to Moscow following the Embraer aircraft crash that killed at least 38 people, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The Embraer E190AR, with dozens of people on board, crashed on 25 December in Aktau, located in western Kazakhstan. Of the 67 people on board, 38 died. Other 29 people, including two children, were hospitalized, with 11 in serious but stable condition. Euronews, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government, reported that a Russian missile caused the crash of the airliner.

On 26 December, Israeli El Al announced the suspension of flights to Moscow. The airline said it would assess the situation over the next week and decide whether to resume flights based on the results.

Defense Express, a Ukrainian military portal, said a Russian Pantsir missile system operating in automatic mode likely downed the plane.

On that day, Russian air defenses were engaged in repelling a drone attack over Grozny, deploying this system.

“In fact, the Russian military consciously permitted to shoot down the passenger airliner. As a result of the strike, the aircraft’s control system was damaged, making it only partially controllable,” the experts believe.

Andrii Kovaleko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has also supported this theory.

“Russia should have closed the airspace over Grozny, but it did not. The plane was damaged by the Russians and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of offering to make an emergency landing in Grozny to save lives,” he said.

Regarding the crash, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bishimbayev claimed he could neither confirm nor deny information that a Russian air defense missile shot down the plane, Reuters has reported.

The regional transport prosecutor in Kazakhstan said the investigation has not reached final conclusions.

According to Euronews sources, the missile was fired at flight 8432 during a drone attack over Grozny. It exploded during flight, and its fragments hit the aircraft.

Sources say the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airport despite pilots’ requests for an emergency landing. Instead, it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea toward Aktau in Kazakhstan.

The aircraft’s GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight over the sea. AnewZ, citing Azerbaijani government sources, also reported that the missile was fired from a Pantsir-S anti-aircraft system.

Related: