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Dispatcher: “Carpet" operation announced on Grozny airspace after shooting at AZAL plane

30 December 2024 12:03 (UTC +04:00)

Dispatcher, directing the aircraft of Azerbaijani Airways on Chechenia airspace, has been ex football player of "Terek" (now "Akhmat") Ali Idrisov, APA's correspondent in Moscow reports citing Russian sources.

Idrisov has noted that he was interrogated as a witness last night.

Idrisov said in his initial statement that he was certain that he was unaware of the operation of the air defense system when the plane landed and that he received information about the "Carpet" plan five minutes after the incident.

Idrisov claimed that he had no idea about the UAV attack and the operation of the air defense system.

He assessed the incident as a collision with a flock of birds until the last moment, based on the information provided by the crew.

According to Ali Idrisov, the implementation of the "Carpet" plan became known to him at the 22nd minute (around 08:21), that is, after the aircraft crew reported that the aircraft had been hit, which was mistakenly perceived as a collision with a flock of birds.

In addition to the dispatcher Ali Idrisov, the flight director of the Grozny airport Jamlail Bakanayev was also questioned yesterday evening as part of the investigation into the crash of the AZAL aircraft.

Jamlail Bakanayev said in his initial statement that he was sure that all systems were in working order and had been checked by him as part of his official duties.

As the flight director, he did not see any obstacles to the landing of the Baku-Grozny flight at that time.

Bakanayev also confirmed that information about the implementation of the “Carpet” plan was received after the incident.

It should be noted that on December 25, an Embraer passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, operating a Baku-Grozny flight, crashed near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan. There were 67 people on board, including 5 crew members. As a result of the accident, 35 people, including citizens of Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan, lost their lives.

As a result of preliminary investigations, it was found that the Azerbaijani plane was shot down by the Russian Air Defense System while it was in the airspace of Chechnya. At the same time, the plane was hit by Radio Electronic Warfare and the aircraft lost control. Traces of shrapnel from a missile fired from an anti-aircraft missile complex were recorded on the fuselage of the plane.