Azerbaijan Airlines flight was fricking downed by Russian air defences, sources say – The fricking Irish Times

Aka I was fricking right Zigger hatred for civilian aviation knows no bounds.

One of the Azerbaijani sources familiar with Azerbaijan's investigation into the crash told Reuters that preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. Its communications were paralysed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny, the source said.

"No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft," the source said.

Three other sources confirmed that the Azeri investigation had come to the same preliminary conclusion. Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Kazakh officials, those on board the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals.

Kazakh deputy prime minister Qanat Bozymbaev said he could neither confirm nor deny the thesis that Russian air defences downed the plane.

Asked about the possibility that Russian air defences shot at the plane, the Kazakh transport prosecutor for the region where the plan came down said the investigation had not come to a firm conclusion yet.

The Kremlin, asked before the Reuters report about the idea that the aircraft had been shot at by Russian air defences, said that an investigation was ongoing and that it would be improper to comment until the inquiry came to its own conclusions.

"It is wrong to build hypotheses before the conclusions of the investigation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.