NATO demands investigation into Azerbaijani plane crash amid Russian missile allegations

NATO has urged a comprehensive investigation into the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane on Wednesday morning, which resulted in the tragic loss of 38 lives. Suspicion is growing that Russian air defense systems may have been involved in the incident.

The Embraer E190 passenger aircraft was en route from Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, to Grozny, the Chechen capital, when passengers reportedly heard an explosion. The plane was diverted hundreds of kilometers off course before crashing near the Kazakh city of Aktau. Miraculously, 29 people survived the crash.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and victims of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243,” NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. “We wish a speedy recovery to those injured in the crash and call for a thorough investigation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov echoed the call for patience, stating on Thursday, “We need to wait for the conclusion of the investigation,” while cautioning against premature assumptions.

Russia’s aviation watchdog attributed the crash to a collision with a flock of birds, which allegedly forced the aircraft to divert to Aktau. However, competing theories have emerged.

Media outlets including Reuters and Azerbaijan’s Caliber have speculated that the passenger plane was struck by a Russian air defense missile. These reports suggest the incident occurred in an area where Moscow has been actively targeting Ukrainian drones in recent weeks.

According to Caliber, citing Azerbaijani officials, the aircraft’s emergency request to land at three nearby Russian airports was denied. Instead, the plane was directed to fly over the Caspian Sea, exacerbating its perilous situation.

Further fueling these suspicions are reports of a simultaneous drone strike on Grozny. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Chechen Security Council Secretary Khamzat Kadyrov claimed that a drone attack on Grozny had been successfully neutralized.