The AZAL plane that crashed in December was shot down by a Russian Pantsir-S missile.

Axar.az informs that according to the report, an Azerbaijani government source told the agency on Tuesday that the Azerbaijani passenger plane that crashed after being diverted from Russia to Kazakhstan in December was shot down by a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system.

"The Azerbaijani side has a fragment of the Pantsir-S missile removed from the plane and identified as a result of international expertise," the source said.

It should be noted that the AZAL passenger plane operating the Baku-Grozny flight was shot down by the Russian anti-aircraft missile system in Grozny on December 25, 2024. The plane, which was heading to Kazakhstan after being denied permission to land, crashed near Aktau airport. Of the 67 people on board, 38 died and 29 survived.