Russian aviation authorities may share some information related to incident, spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that he will not comment on the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan until the end of the investigation that is currently underway.
Only the Russian aviation authorities may share some information related to the incident, Peskov told a press briefing in Moscow.
"An investigation into this aviation incident is underway, and until the conclusions that will be drawn from the investigation, we do not consider ourselves entitled to make any assessments and will not do so. At the same time, we have our aviation authorities who can do this, and some information can only be from them," he said.
The Azerbaijan Airlines flight, traveling from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in Russia's Chechen Republic, crashed near Aktau, a city on the Caspian coast on Wednesday, with 67 people onboard.
Kazakh officials said 38 people were killed in the crash while 29 survived.
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan both launched investigations into the accident.
Senior Azerbaijani officials confirmed to Anadolu on Thursday that the crash was caused by a Russian missile system.
But Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, maintained that the crash was likely caused by a bird strike, which forced the aircraft to divert to Aktau. The plane had departed Baku for Grozny but veered off course over the Caspian Sea before the crash.
Kazakh authorities and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev called for restraint in speculation, noting that bad weather may have played a role in the flight's diversion.
The crash occurred amid heightened activity of Russian air defenses targeting Ukrainian drones in the region. Public flight data shows GPS jamming in the area, further fueling questions.
