Azerbaijan Airlines suspends flights to Russian cities after Kazakhstan crash
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Azerbaijan Airlines suspends flights to Russian cities after Kazakhstan crash

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An Azeri state flag flies at half-mast as the country observes the day of national mourning for the victims of an Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer passenger plane crash near the Kazakh city of Aktau, outside the Government House in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters)
An Azeri state flag flies at half-mast as the country observes the day of national mourning for the victims of an Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer passenger plane crash near the Kazakh city of Aktau, outside the Government House in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters)

MOSCOW - Azerbaijan Airlines said on Friday that it was suspending flights to seven Russian cities, Russian media reported, after one of its planes crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday during a flight to Grozny, in Russia's Chechnya.

Russia's Interfax news agency reported that Azerbaijan Airlines would continue running flights to six major Russian cities, including Moscow and St Petersburg.

The Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan was downed by a Russian air defence system, four sources in Azerbaijan with knowledge of the investigation have told Reuters.

The Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, after diverting from an area of Russia in which Moscow has used air defence systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent months.

The Kremlin, asked on Friday about Azerbaijani reports that Russian air defences had downed the plane, said that it had nothing to add, and that an investigation into the crash was ongoing.

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