OBJECTS SMASHED THROUGH AIRPLANE’S FUSELAGE
Azerbaijan for its part said Aliyev had noted to Putin that the plane had been “subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau”.
Until Saturday, Russia’s last working day before a long New Year holiday, the Kremlin had said it was improper to comment on the incident before official investigations were concluded.
The Embraer jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region, where the incident occurred, and then travelled, badly damaged, another 450 km across the Caspian Sea.
