Azerbaijan has evidence that the AZAL plane was shot down by Russians, according to Reuters.

The "Azerbaijan Airlines" plane crashed in Kazakhstan due to being targeted by the Russian air defense system "Pantsir-S". This incident resulted in the death of 38 individuals.

This information was reported by RBK-Ukraine citing Reuters.

"The Azerbaijani side possesses a fragment of the 'Pantsir-S' missile that was extracted from the aircraft and identified through international expertise," said an unnamed source in the Azerbaijani government to the publication.

The source did not disclose further details to Reuters.

Air Crash in Kazakhstan

Recall that on December 25, an 'Azerbaijan Airlines' plane crashed in Kazakhstan near the city of Aktau.

It later became clear that the plane was flying from Baku to Grozny but did not land in the Russian city. Instead, the aircraft headed towards Kazakhstan over the Caspian Sea.

The Russians prohibited the plane from landing in Grozny as the city was under drone attack at that time. Against this backdrop, one of the air defense systems shot down the aircraft.

Despite the crew's requests to land in another Russian city, they were denied. Consequently, the plane was forced to fly to Kazakhstan to make a landing there.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that Russia must acknowledge its guilt, punish those responsible, and provide compensation.

For more details on whether such a tragedy could impact relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, see the article by RBK-Ukraine.