Azerbaijan Airlines has revealed the cause of the plane crash in Kazakhstan.

"Azerbaijan Airlines" stated that the cause of the plane crash in Kazakhstan on December 25 was "external physical and technical interference." The statement does not specify what type of interference this refers to.

This is mentioned in the airline's statement on social media platform X (Twitter).

The carrier announced the suspension of flights to several Russian cities and explained the reason for this action.

"This decision, made in accordance with the resolution of the State Civil Aviation Administration of Azerbaijan, is based on preliminary findings from the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft operating flight J2-8243 of 'Azerbaijan Airlines' from Baku to Grozny, due to physical and technical external interference, and also considers potential risks to flight safety," the message states.

The suspension of flights will remain in effect until the final investigation is completed.

Two passengers of the 'Azerbaijan Airlines' plane that crashed in Kazakhstan told Reuters that they heard at least one loud bang as the aircraft approached its initial destination – Grozny in southern Russia.

Four sources familiar with the preliminary findings of the Azerbaijani investigation into the crash informed Reuters that it was mistakenly shot down by Russian air defense systems.

Russia stated that it is important to wait for the official investigation to conclude in order to understand what happened.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that Israel's national carrier El Al announced the suspension of flights to Moscow following the crash of the Azerbaijani plane in Aktau, Kazakhstan, which is believed in Baku to have been shot down by air defense systems over Chechnya.