"A plane crashed after being hit by a Russian missile"...Azerbaijan Preliminary Survey Results

A preliminary investigation has found that Russian missiles were responsible for the crash of an Azerbaijani plane that caused dozens of casualties.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the 26th local time that Azerbaijani authorities concluded that the crashed plane had been hit by Russian anti-aircraft missiles or fragments.

The crashed Azerbaijani Airlines flight J28243 had departed from Baku, Azerbaijan, the day before and was heading to Grozny, Russia.

The plane, however, suddenly changed course and crossed east of the Caspian Sea before crashing while attempting to land in Aktau, western Kazakhstan.

In a related development, the Wall Street Journal cited sources familiar with the investigation into the cause of the accident, saying Russia diverted the plane from its airspace and disrupted GPS.

The plane was carrying 67 people, including 37 Azerbaijanis, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzs, 38 of whom were killed.

Rumors of the Russian misidentification have been raised even before the preliminary investigation by the Azerbaijani authorities.

The sky over Russia's North Caucasus, where the plane passed, was the target of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks.

Russia's Defense Ministry said it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones by the night before, and just three hours before the plane crash, a Ukrainian drone was shot down over the Vladdy Caucasus west of Grozny.

Authorities in Kazakhstan, where the plane crashed, collected a second black box from the crash site, and plans to secure communication between the nearby airport and the crashed plane and investigate it with the first black box.

The U.S. and others raised the possibility that the plane had been shot down by Russian air defense systems based on the fact that Russian air defenses were operating in Grozny at the time."Initial investigations have indicated that Russian air defenses have attacked Azerbaijani aircraft," said a U.S. official

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Ukrainian national security official Andriy Kovalenko claimed that it was likely shot down by Russian air defense systems based on holes in parts of the plane and inside life jackets.

"The plane was damaged by Russia and was sent to Kazakhstan instead of making an emergency landing in Grozny and saving people's lives," Kovalenko noted.

Experts also analyzed that several holes in the tail of the plane were found to be the result of the operation of missiles or air defense systems.

Photos of the crash site show that the front half of the plane was destroyed, but the tail remains almost intact, and the tail is full of collision marks and small holes that appear to have been hit by a surface-to-air missile defense system.

"The hole in the plane fuselage is very similar to the type of projectile mounted on air-to-air missiles and the impact from air-to-air missiles launched from air-to-air systems such as Pan Sir-S1," said Ruslan Leviev of the CIT, a non-profit investigative group that tracks Russian military activities.

British aviation security firm Osprey FlightSolutions also said footage of the crash, damage to the aircraft and recent military activities suggest the plane may have been hit by some kind of anti-aircraft gun.

One passenger on board the crashed plane told Russian state broadcaster RT that the plane tried to descend twice, but rose again on both occasions, and on the third attempt to descend, he and other passengers heard explosions outside the cabin.

He then added that some of the aircraft had fallen off.

Russia, however, insisted that no hasty speculation should be made.

"We are currently investigating the cause of the crash and it is wrong to hypothesize before the conclusion is reached," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Earlier, Russian aviation authorities claimed that the plane crashed after colliding with a flock of birds during the flight.

Kazakhstan, where the plane crashed, is also cautious about the shooting down.

Kazakhstan's transport ministry, which is investigating the incident, said in a briefing the previous day that it had recovered all the bodies of 38 people killed in the crash, 10 of them identified.

Kazakhstan's Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozimbayev, chairman of the accident investigation committee, said, "The media speculative reports are all coming from specific government (Azerbaijan) sources, but we have not received any official information from the Russian or Azerbaijani governments. For this reason, we can neither confirm nor deny."

The accident could also worsen relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, the Wall Street Journal noted.

If Russian missiles are the cause of the plane crash, it means tensions between the two countries could rise.

Azerbaijan has maintained a pragmatic relationship with Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, but it is also believed to have recently become close to Israel.

"Azerbaijan wants not just an apology from Russia, but also an explanation of why the pilots' landing requests were denied and GPS was disturbed," said Zaur Siriev, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon Eurasia Center.