Russian Missiles Exploded Near Azerbaijani Plane That Crashed Last Year, Putin Admits - The Moscow Times
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President Vladimir Putin told Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev on Thursday that two Russian anti-aircraft missiles had exploded several meters away from an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet before it crashed last year, marking the Kremlin leader’s first public admission that Russia was to blame for the deadly accident.

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Russia’s Vladimir Putin told Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday that two Russian anti-aircraft missiles had exploded several meters away from an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet that crashed last year, killing 38 people on board.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 jet was flying from Baku to Grozny in the republic of Chechnya on Dec. 25 when it disappeared from radar near Russia’s Caspian Sea coast before crashing later near the Kazakh city of Aktau.

Russian officials had offered conflicting explanations for the disaster, initially suggesting that poor visibility or a possible bird strike was to blame, and later saying air defense systems were targeting Ukrainian drones in the area.

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  • FleetingTit@feddit.orgEnglish
    4·
    18 hours ago

    They exploded, perhaps via self-destruct, roughly at a distance of 10 meters [33 feet]. Thus, the aircraft was damaged not predominantly by direct warhead impact but rather by missile fragments […]

    No, not self destruct. That is how the missile works! It explodes near a target and the shrapnel makes it very likely that multiple critical systems are hit. The same happened to that Malaysian plane over eastern Ukraine in 2014, Mr Putin!