Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta has speculated that Russian air defenses may have been responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash in Kazakhstan earlier this week that killed 38 people and injured all 29 survivors.
“Looking at all the preliminary evidence here, there is no question other than that the Russians used some kind of air defense system that brought down the plane,” Panetta told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday night. I think so,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier this week that “we need to wait until this investigation is over” before casting any speculation on the cause of the crash.
The plane was flying from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of Russia's Chechen Republic, on Wednesday when it veered in the direction of Kazakhstan and crashed while attempting to land.
Panetta's comments come as U.S. officials and Azerbaijani ministers have also suggested the plane may have been struck by Russian air defenses, citing expert analysis and testimony from survivors. Ta.
“While we await a formal investigation, I think it's clear that the Russians here are responsible for what happened to that plane,” Panetta added.
Passengers and crew members who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard a loud noise as the plane was circling over Grozny. Flight attendants said they heard what sounded like a crash coming from outside the plane, denying subsequent claims by Kazakh officials that an oxygen cylinder had exploded on board.
Other survivors also said they heard explosions before the project was called off.
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Telegram that investigators are investigating the incident with Azerbaijani officials, Brazilian experts, the airline and Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer.
This was reported by the Azerbaijani news website Caliber. Preliminary investigation It found that the plane was shot down by Russia's Pantsir-S air defense system, and Russia said it also used electronic warfare on the plane to disable its radar.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
