Azerbaijan Airlines crash sparks speculation that plane was ‘accidentally shot down by Russia’

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Christmas Day has led to speculation that the plane was shot down by Russia after flying hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and crashing with holes in its fuselage.

Russian military bloggers have suggested that the plane that crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau may have been mistaken for a Ukrainian drone.

The incident, which killed at least 38 people and injured another 29, occurred after a significant diversion that may have been caused by GPS interference.

The Embraer 190 plane made an emergency landing on Wednesday three kilometers from Aktau, an oil and gas hub on the east coast of the Caspian Sea.

It flew from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya in the North Caucasus.

Footage of the crash circulating online showed the plane making a steep descent before hitting the ground in a fireball.

Other footage showed part of the fuselage being torn away from the wings and the rest of the plane lying upside down in the grass.

Russian military bloggers and some aviation analysts have suggested that the holes in the plane’s fuselage may have been caused by shrapnel from an anti-aircraft missile.

Before the emergency landing began, the plane’s crew reported a mid-air collision, which Russian aviation authorities initially suspected was caused by a flock of birds.

However, it later emerged that one of the plane’s oxygen tanks had exploded, leading to speculation that the collision was actually a clash with Russian air defense forces.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have militarized the area over which the plane was flying – in a detour that the airline had not planned.

The plane attempted to land at a Russian airport in Grozny, which was under attack by Ukrainian drones at the time of landing.

Baza, a Telegram channel with ties to the Russian security services, said: “The holes look like those that appeared after a shelling or explosion with impact elements.”

Rybar, an influential Telegram channel with 1.3 million subscribers, also confirmed Baza’s description, saying the damage to the hull resembled “impacting elements of an anti-aircraft missile.”

He continued: “The aircraft itself was en route to Grozny – at this point an attack by launched Ukrainian UAVs on the region was actually repelled. “Several drones were shot down over Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia and neighboring Ingushetia.”

After the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, said he was on his way home from Russia, where he planned to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russian news agency RIA reported.

Mr. Putin expressed his deep condolences to Mr. Aliyev after the crash, said Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman.

“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev had to leave St. Petersburg. “Putin has already called him and expressed his condolences in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau,” Peskov said.

“We have deep sympathy for those who lost their relatives and friends in this plane crash and wish a speedy recovery to all those who survived,” he added.

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