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Plane crash in Kazakhstan: ‘External Interference’ at the origin of the Disaster

These are the words used by the Azerbaijani Minister of Transport, to describe, at the moment, the investigation into the air disaster of the flight from Baku to Grozny of Azerbaijan Airlines

Today, 27 December, the Azerbaijani Minister of Transport, Rashad Nabiyev, stated that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan was caused by ‘external interference’. The authorities are currently investigating to determine the type of weapon used.

Evidence and testimony

Nabiyev reported that the appearance of the plane debris on the ground and eyewitness accounts support this theory. During a press conference, quoted by the Azerbaijani media Report, the minister explained that the plane, which left Baku on 25 December, was carrying 67 passengers: 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyz. So far, the death toll stands at thirty-eight.

Shoot-down hypothesis

According to initial information, the plane may have been shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile. Footage of the plane shows traces of the impact of a large missile on the tail section, as reported by the Russian independent news agency Meduza. Similar holes have been documented in numerous pictures and videos of aircraft shot down by surface-to-air missiles.

Passenger testimonies

Two surviving passengers reported hearing a loud bang as the plane approached Grozny, its original destination. Kazakhstan’s Minister of Transport, Marat Karabayev, said on 26 December that the plane had deviated from its route before landing in Grozny. The flight monitoring website Flightradar24 reported on social media that the plane had been ‘exposed to GPS jamming and spoofing near Grozny’.

Ongoing investigation

Nabiyev stressed that the issue of the GPS being switched off on board the plane also needs to be clarified. These comments represent the first public acknowledgements by Azerbaijani officials about the involvement of a weapon in the incident. Initially, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) had claimed that the plane collided with a flock of birds, forcing the pilot to attempt an emergency landing.

Airline statements

Nabiyev’s conclusions are in line with those of Azerbaijan Airlines, which stated on 27 December that the accident was caused by ‘external physical and technical interference’. The airline added that it had suspended flights to eight different locations in Russia.

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