Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday.
According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone air activity above Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight.
Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan.
According to data, the plane’s GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea. (…)
Not really, airliners have been confused for much smaller aircraft or missiles multiple times. There have also been plenty of friendly fire incidents where Russia shot down it’s own military planes and even the US shot down it’s own fighter plane a couple of days ago despite certainly more sophisticated and integrated IFF systems.
For that reason Russia should close any airspace it might have to operate air defenses in. Obviously that would look bad for them and they are not going to do it.