Several airlines have cancelled flights to Russian cities following the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which Western experts and the US suggest may have been caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
Moscow has declined to comment on the reports, instead stating that Grozny, the Chechen capital where the plane was supposed to land, was under attack by Ukrainian drones that day.
The crash near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday resulted in the deaths of 38 of the 67 people on board.
In response to the incident, Turkmenistan Airlines, the national carrier of the Central Asian state, announced the cancellation of regular flights between Ashgabat and Moscow from December 30, 2024, to January 31, 2025, without providing an explanation.
Following the incident, UAE airline Flydubai suspended its flights between Dubai and the southern Russian cities of Mineralnye Vody and Sochi, scheduled between December 27 and January 3. Similarly, Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air has suspended its flights to Russia’s Urals city of Yekaterinburg until the end of January.
Earlier this week, Israeli airline El Al also announced the suspension of its flights to Moscow for a week.
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