Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Saturday that Russia’s air defense systems were active when Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 attempted to land in Grozny, Chechnya on Wednesday.

A survivor of Wednesday’s Azerbaijan Airlines crash said the plane’s pilots tried to land in Grozny, Chechnya three times, followed by an explosion outside the plane, according to an audio recording shared by Russian TV channel RT.

An investigation into the deadly crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight in Kazakhstan earlier this week came after the passenger plane experienced “physical and technical external interference,” the carrier said Friday.

Sources told Reuters the plane had been hit by Russian fire. "It was as if it was drunk - not the same plane anymore," one passenger recalled.

Footage shows survivors walking and being dragged away from the tail section of a crashed Azerbaijan Airlines plane. Wednesday's flight from Baku to Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya was diverted across the Caspian Sea and went down near the western Kazakhstan city of Aktau.

The national airlines of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have suspended some flights to Russia after evidence suggested an Azerbaijani plane had been downed by Russian air defence systems. The Kazakh airline,

Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer SA 190 aircraft was damaged by Russian air defense systems near Grozny before it crashed in Kazakhstan during an attempted emergency landing, according to Azerbaijan government-backed Caliber news website.

Azebaijan Airlines (AZAL) has decided to cancel flights to seven Russian cities after its aircraft failed to land in Grozny and crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan. Source: The Moscow Times with reference to APA Details: From 28 December 2024,

A former NATO ambassador says Russia will likely never take responsibility for striking down an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.