An Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Baku to the Chechnyan city of Grozny crashed Wednesday, killing 38. The plane flew hundreds of miles off its route and crashed on the wrong side of the Caspian Sea in Aktau,

An investigation into the deadly crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight in Kazakhstan earlier this week came after the passenger plane experienced “physical and technical external interference,” the carrier said Friday.

Azerbaijan's president said the plane was damaged "from the outside" while over Russian territory and that "electronic warfare systems" put the plane "out of control".

Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended several more services to Russian cities after preliminary indications that "external interference" played a role in the fatal loss of an Embraer 190. The aircraft, bound for Grozny as J28243 on 25 December,

The Kremlin has declined to state that Russian forces were responsible for downing the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 on December 25, 2024. Russia acknowledged that its air defense systems were active at the time of the incident to shoot down Ukrainian drones but has stopped short of saying it brought down the aircraft.

Russia and its four flight information regions (FIRs) to a list of potentially dangerous airspaces for civilian aircraft. According to the agency, the decision aims to "ensure maximum flight safety amid the ongoing full-scale war Russia is waging against Ukraine.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recommended that airlines should not use Russian airspace for flights due to the risk of war-related incidents. The recommendation is valid until 31 July 2025 but may be revised earlier if necessary.