The US has said that Russia may be responsible for the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines. John Kirby, the spokesman for the White House of the US President's Office, said that there are preliminary indications that Russia may be responsible for the accident.
The 'J2-8243' plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, which was going from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Chechnya, crashed near the Aktau region of Kazakhstan on Wednesday. 38 of the 67 people on board died in the crash.
White House spokesman Kirby said there were indications that Russia was responsible for the plane crash. But he did not mention anything in detail about it, according to the BBC. He said that the US has offered to assist in the investigation of the accident.
It is believed that the plane that was trying to land in Chechnya was hit by the Russian air defense system. But later the plane turned towards the Caspian Sea without landing in Chechnya and had an accident while heading towards Kazakhstan.
Russia has not responded to the American allegations. But the Russian Civil Aviation Authority has said that the situation in Chechnya will be very complicated due to the Ukrainian drone attack, BBC has mentioned.
The authorities of Azerbaijan have stated that the plane's GPS system was affected due to 'electronic jamming' and then it crashed due to shrapnel from the explosion of a Russian air defense missile. .
However, Azerbaijan has not blamed Russia for the accident. But Azerbaijan's Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyab said that the plane was hit by external interference and crashed while landing. He said that an investigation will be conducted on what weapons were used in the plane.
