“The Kremlin’s statement did not say whether Putin gave the reason why Grozny’s civilian airport was not closed to aircraft at the time of the drone attack”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“In the conversation, it was noted that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft, which strictly followed the schedule, repeatedly tried to land at the airport of the city of Grozny. At this time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz attacked Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The message did not indicate whether Putin gave the reason why the Grozny civilian airport was not closed to aircraft at the time of the drone attack.
In a conversation with Putin, Aliyev said that the plane, while in Russian airspace, “underwent external physical and technical interference” and completely lost control. He was sent to Kazakhstan’s Aktau and “only thanks to the courage and professionalism of the pilots was he able to make an emergency landing.” The President of Azerbaijan also stated that the fact of external influence is confirmed by the presence of numerous holes in the fuselage of the plane, the injuries of passengers and crew members by third parties who pierced the body of the plane while still in the air and penetrated inside, as well as the testimony of flight attendants and passengers who survived.
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane traveling from Baku to Grozny crashed near Aktau in the morning of December 25. 38 people died.
According to Euronews and Reuters, the cause of the plane crash was the Russian anti-aircraft system. Reuters reported that the missile was fired at the plane during “drone aerial activity” over Grozny. The rocket exploded next to the plane, damaging its skin.
On December 27, the head of Rosaviatsia, Dmytro Yadrov, confirmed that drones attacked the city of Grozny when the plane was about to land at Grozny airport. He claimed that the pilot of the plane was offered other airports in Russia for landing, but he decided to go to Aktau airport. Euronews sources in the Azerbaijani government wrote that the crew of the damaged airliner asked for an emergency landing, but it was not allowed to land at any of the Russian airports.