US Suspect Russia Involvement In Downed Azerbaijani Plane

White House spokesman John Kirby has said the US has seen “early indications” that Russia may have been responsible for the downing of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on 25 December, killing 38 people.

Mr Kirby did not elaborate further, but told reporters the US had offered assistance to the investigation into the crash.

The plane is thought to have come under fire from Russian air defence systems as it tried to land in Chechnya before being diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where it crashed.

The Kremlin has refused to comment, but the head of Russia’s civil aviation agency said the situation in Chechnya was “very complicated” due to Ukrainian drone strikes on the region.

What we know about the Azerbaijan Airlines crash
Mr Kirby said the indications the US had seen went beyond widely circulated photos of the damaged plane, the Washington Post reported.

Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were affected by electronic jamming and it was then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air-defence missile blasts.

Azerbaijan has not accused Russia, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and damaged inside and out as it tried to land.

“All [the survivors] without exception stated they heard three blast sounds when the aircraft was above Grozny,” said Rashad Nabiyev.

Mr Nabiyev said investigators would now examine “what kind of weapon, or rather what kind of rocket was used.”

BBC/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma