A Ukrainian national security official and several sources in Azerbaijan claimed that the crash, which killed 38 people on Christmas Day, was caused by Russian air defence fire.
The plane, which was flying from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to the Russian city of Grozny in Chechnya, came down in a field near Aktau in Kazakhstan after veering hundreds of miles off its planned route. Twenty-nine people survived.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said yesterday the investigation into the cause of the crash was under way, adding that it would be wrong to speculate.
The chair of Kazakhstan's senate also stressed that the cause remained unknown. "None of these countries - neither Azerbaijan, Russia nor Kazakhstan - is interested in hiding information. All information will be made available to the public," said Ashimbayev Maulen. He described the allegations of air defence fire as unfounded and "unethical".
On Wednesday, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the centre for countering disinformation at Ukraine's national security and defence council, posted on X: "This morning, an Embraer 190 aircraft of an Azerbaijani airline, flying from Baku to Grozny, was shot down by a Russian air defence system." He cited video footage from inside the plane that he said showed "punctured life vests".
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