Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, likely caused by Russian air defense, shines light on a glaring issue the Kremlin has long swept under the rug.

While several theories are being thrown into the fray regarding the probable causes of Azerbaijan Airlines' Flight J2-8243 crash in Kazakhstan, one thing seems to be for sure: the Brazilian-built Embraer E-190 jet was damaged from the outside,

On 25 December, 38 people died when an Azerbaijan Airlines flight, which had been due to land in Russia, crash-landed in Kazakhstan. The circumstances around the crash remain unclear, but limited evidence so far suggests it may have been hit by missiles fired by a Russian air-defence system as it tried to land in Chechnya.

The cause of the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, is still unknown. The Kremlin has so far been tight-lipped, prompting questions over its messaging.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was scheduled to travel from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, a city in the Russian region of Chechnya, on Wednesday, but was diverted and ultimately crashed on the other side of the Caspian Sea, less than two miles from the airport in Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia all opened investigations into the cause of the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243.

A passenger jet operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian attack drones.

Vladimir Putin has apologised for the Azerbaijan Airlines crash but stopped short of accepting responsibility for what he described as a “tragic incident”.

Putin apologises over Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash – but does not admit fault - Azerbaijan says the plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had sustained injuries ‘due to fo

The Kremlin tends to play down these attacks, and has a history of offering unconvincing explanations for massive explosions that sometimes result.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over the “tragic” Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people on board, but stopped short of admitting any responsibility for the incident.