FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows emergency specialists working at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. REUTERS/Azamat Sarsenbayev/File Photo
MOSCOW (AFP): Several airlines have announced the suspension of flights to Russian cities, after Western experts and the US suggested the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines this week may have been caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
Moscow has declined to comment on reports the plane could have been accidentally shot down by its air defence.
Russia has said that Grozny, the Chechen capital where the plane was meant to land, was being attacked by Ukrainian drones that day.
It crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau Wednesday (Dec 25), killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
Turkmenistan Airlines - the national carrier of the reclusive Central Asian state - was the latest airline to announce cancellations Saturday (Dec 28).
It said that "regular flights between Ashgabat-Moscow-Ashgabat were cancelled from Dec 30, 2024 to Jan 31, 2025," without giving an explanation.
The decision came after UAE airline flydubai suspended flights between Dubai and the southern Russian cities of Mineralnye Vody and Sochi that were scheduled between Dec 27 and Jan 3.
Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air has suspended its flights to Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg until the end of January.
Earlier this week, Israeli airline El Al said it was suspending its flights to Moscow for a week.
The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 crashed near the western Kazakh city of Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
It was carrying out a flight between Azerbaijan's capital Baku and the city of Grozny in Russia.
For several days, some Western experts have been pointing to a crash caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
Citing preliminary results of an investigation, Azerbaijan's transport minister said Friday that the crash suffered physical "external interference".
Statements from Azerbaijan citing the investigation into the incident suggest Baku believes the plane was hit mid-air.
On Friday (Dec 27), White House spokesman John Kirby said Washington has "indications" Russia may have been responsible, without giving details.
