Alarm bells are ringing as Russia's President Vladimir Putin confirms his country was behind a deadly Christmas Day incident that left 38 people dead. It was initially unclear what happened to Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 when it was hit by 'foreign metal objects' during its December 25 trip from Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, Azerbaijan, to Kadyrov Grozny International Airport near Grozny, Russia.
The 'objects' severely damaged Flight 8243 when they penetrated the plane's exterior on approach to Grozny, with initial theories claiming the plane had been hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile.
Around 40 minutes after takeoff, the plane is said to have entered Russian airspace as the crew reported jamming of GPS navigational aids. As the plane approached Grozny some 81 minutes into the flight, passengers recall hearing an explosion and maintain that shrapnel hit the aircraft.
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Although the pilots tried to divert, the damaged plane's hydraulic system failed, and it crashed near Aktau International Airport in Kazakhstan. Pilots reportedly radioed for help from airports in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, but were denied landing at Grozny due to 'fog'.
Not long after the crash, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said 'with complete clarity' that Vladimir Putin's administration had shot down the flight, going on to accuse the company of trying to 'hush up' the deaths of 38 of the 67 who were on board. Among the dead were both pilots and a flight attendant, with just 29 people surviving the plane crash.
While the pilots initially thought the plane had struck a bird, the wreckage of the fuselage was found to be riddled with holes that were consistent with the impact of a surface-to-air missile.
Putin denied Russian involvement and simply referred to the accident as a 'tragic incident', but on October 9, he clarified that air defences supposedly targeting a Ukrainian drone were hit with a 'technical malfunction'.
Speaking to Aliev in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe, the Russian president confirmed that two missiles exploded just 10 meters away from Flight 8243. Putin added: "The Russian side will obviously do everything to provide compensation and give legal assessment to all responsible officials' action."
Admitting fault, Putin continued: "Of course, these words related to this tragedy, aimed at supporting – morally supporting – the families do not solve the main problem: We can’t bring back to life those who died as a result of the tragedy."
Putin's words were met with acceptance from Aliyev, who said he hopes "the messages we are sending today to our societies will meet a positive response."
Tragic final words from the plane's last moments in the sky have been shared, with the flight attendant who lost her life being heard telling passengers to fasten their seat belts, but that 'everything will be fine'.
Putin's admission comes after Kazakhstan’s Transportation Ministry published a 53-page report in February that mentioned the 'external objects' that hit the plane and showed off the damaged fuselage. The report concluded that this damage led to a loss of hydraulic fluid and pressure, which, in turn, caused stabilizer failure.
This will hopefully be the end of the saga after an angry Azerbaijan retaliated by closing a Moscow-funded cultural center, banning Russian officials from entering amid claims of 'offensive' remarks, and shutting down Kremlin-funded media that was based in the country.