The "Embraer 190" aircraft of the Azerbaijani airline, which crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan this morning, was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile system.
"This morning, the Embraer 190 belonging to the Azerbaijani airline, flying from Baku to Grozny, was downed by a Russian SAM," - reported Andrey Kovalenko, head of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, via Telegram.
According to him, Russia was supposed to close the airspace over Grozny but failed to do so.
"The aircraft sustained damage from the Russians and was directed to Kazakhstan instead of making an emergency landing in Grozny to save lives," - Kovalenko emphasized.