There are early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, a US official told Reuters on Thursday.
The official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, added that if the indications turn out to be accurate, they would underscore Russian recklessness in its invasion of Ukraine.
An Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, after diverting from an area of Russia in which Moscow has used air defense systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months.
Flown off scheduled route
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Azerbaijan's Baku to Grozny, in Russia's Chechnya, to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea, after what Russia's aviation watchdog said was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.
Officials did not immediately explain why it had crossed the sea, but the crash came after Ukrainian drone strikes this month hit the Chechnya region of southern Russia.
The nearest Russian airport on the plane's flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.
Mangystau Regional Transport Prosecutor Abylaibek Ordabayev said on Thursday, that the Kazakh investigation has not yet come to any conclusions about Russian air defenses downing the Azerbaijan Airlines flight.
Canada asks for open investigation
The Canadian foreign ministry responded to the crash on X/Twitter saying that it was deeply concerned by reports that Russian air defense may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines flight, and called on Moscow to allow for an open and transparent investigation into the incident.
"Canada is deeply concerned by reports that Russian Air Defense Forces may have fired a missile on Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 causing it to crash land," the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement.
"We call on Russia to allow for an open and transparent investigation into the incident and to accept its findings," the ministry said.