An Azerbaijani plane was shot down by a Russian "Pantsir-S" missile, according to a government source cited by Reuters.

Azerbaijani passenger plane that crashed in December after being redirected from Russia to Kazakhstan was shot down by the Russian air defense system "Pantsir-S".

Source. This was reported by Reuters citing a source in the Azerbaijani government on Tuesday.

"The Azerbaijani side possesses a fragment of the 'Pantsir-S' missile, which was extracted from the aircraft and identified through international expertise," the source said.

At the official level, this information has not yet been made public.

As previously reported, Kazakhstan published the first report on the crash of the Azerbaijani plane, but it does not aim to "assign blame" for the downing of the aircraft.

The report states that the aircraft's fuselage sustained external damage. This damage led to hydraulic fluid leakage, loss of pressure, and stabilizer failure.

The Embraer E190 aircraft of AZAL, which was en route from Baku to Grozny, crashed on December 25 near Aktau. Of the 62 passengers and five crew members, 38 people lost their lives.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that the plane was shot down from the ground. According to sources from Reuters and Euronews in the Azerbaijani government, the aircraft may have been hit by a missile from the 'Pantsir' air defense system while repelling a drone attack on Grozny.

After the damage occurred, the crew requested an emergency landing, but no Russian airport granted permission for the aircraft to land. As a result, the plane headed towards Aktau over the Caspian Sea.

Three days later, Putin called Aliyev and apologized for the "tragic incident that occurred in the airspace of Russia." The Azerbaijani president demands that Moscow officially acknowledge its responsibility.