Russia says Ukraine was ‘root cause’ of AZAL plane crash

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the crash of an aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) was a “shared tragedy” for several countries.

Zakharova said a year had passed since the incident and that a memorial to the victims had been unveiled in Grozny. She described Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s civilian infrastructure as the “root cause” of the crash.

Russia’s foreign ministry said it hoped that Kazakhstan’s commission would soon complete its investigation into the crash near Aktau, after which Russia and Azerbaijan would be able to “resolve all remaining issues.”