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Authorities in several countries are working to determine what caused the deadly crash of a passenger plane yesterday in Kazakhstan. Russian aviation officials initially blamed birds, but investigators are now focusing on the possibility that a Russian air defense system struck the plane.
The jet was flying from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, in Russia’s Chechnya republic. At the same time, drone strikes were taking place around Grozny and Russian air defense systems were responding. Of the 62 passengers and five crew members aboard, 38 were killed, local authorities said.
Two Azerbaijanis briefed on the country’s investigation said that its government now believes that a Russian missile had damaged the plane. U.S. officials also said that there are preliminary indications that the plane had been shot down by a Russian antiaircraft system. And aviation experts said that images of the plane showed holes that appeared unlikely to have been caused by birds.
The Kremlin warned against making any immediate judgments about the cause, but some Russian pro-military bloggers have also pointed the finger at the country’s air defenses.
In related news, Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker today on the suspicion that it was involved in cutting vital undersea cables. They said the ship might have been part of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” aimed at evading Western sanctions.
