The crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which collided with a Russian air defense missile and crashed in Kazakhstan, has sparked a debate over the safety of civilian flights over Russia.
Gunduz Mamedov, a Ukrainian lawyer from Azerbaijan, who served as the Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine from 2019-2022, wrote on Saturday on the Ukrainskaya Pravda website: “Russian airspace should be closed.” He also led Ukrainian investigation teams into the attacks on passenger planes in 2014 and 2020.
According to the intelligence services of Ukraine, long-range drones can now strike targets deep in Russia, up to two thousand kilometers away. Mammadov said that the non-closure of Russian airspace for civil aviation “is a serious risk for passengers, given the possibility of errors or incidents related to air defense systems.”
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A medical plane carries passengers injured in a plane crash near Aktau STRINGER/PAP/EPA
Temporary flight restrictions
Russia has imposed temporary restrictions on flights in the cities of Sochi, Kazan, Samara, Grozny and Makhachkala. All four Moscow airports were temporarily closed on Thursday for a “security intervention” without giving details.
Regardless of the state of war, the Kremlin has not closed its airspace, and many airlines from around the world still fly over or to Russia.
Since February 24, 2022, when the all-out attack on Ukraine began, the vast majority of carriers have stopped communicating with Russia.
Flights to space and in the space of Russia still by Turkish Airlines, Air SERBIA, Belavia, Egyptair, Air Algerie, Qatar Airways, Air Arabia, Emirates and Flydubai. Although the last two flights to the cities of southern Russia were canceled on Friday. Operators of such connections also include Asian airlines such as Air China, China Eastern, Uzbekistan Airways and Air India. However, no American or Oceanian airlines operate such flights.
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Termination of relations with Russia
After an Azerbaijani airliner was shot down by a Russian air defense missile on Wednesday, several airlines have suspended communications with Russia. Flights to this country were canceled by the national airlines of Azerbaijan (AZAL) and Kazakhstan (Qazaq Air), as well as the Israeli airline El Al. In addition, Fly Dubai, a low-cost airline from the United Arab Emirates, has cut ties with Russia. From Monday, regular flights between Moscow and Ishqabad, the capital of Turkmenistan, will also be suspended for a month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the “tragic incident” that occurred in Russian airspace. But he did not directly say that the overthrow was caused by a Russian missile.
Russian media reported on Sunday that Putin had another phone conversation with the president of Azerbaijan that day. – In today’s telephone conversation, they continued to discuss various issues related to the crash of the Azerbaijani plane, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency without disclosing details.
Before the second meeting with Putin, Aliyev said on AzTV state television that “the Russian side should apologize to Azerbaijan, admit its guilt, bring the perpetrators to justice and pay compensation to the state of Azerbaijan and the victims of the tragic flight.”
The crash site of a passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan (photo from December 25, 2024) Issa Tajenbaev / Anadolu / Getty Images
“Kremlin doesn’t want it”
Mamedov said that the confirmation of the downing of the plane by the Russian air defense will be another reason for the need to close the Russian airspace for civilian flights. The lawyer added that the Kremlin does not want this, because it will have negative economic and political consequences for it.
The EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) highlighted in its latest annual report that although the number of air accidents has decreased significantly since 1970, since 2014 the number of victims related to “illegal acts” has increased. EASA estimates that they account for a quarter of all aviation fatalities in the last decade.
The place of the plane crash in Kazakhstan (photo from December 25, 2024) MINISTRY OF EMERGENCY OF KAZAKHSTAN/EPA
Attack on passenger planes
In recent years, attacks on passenger planes have been linked to Russia and Ukraine. In October 2001, the Ukrainian armed forces mistakenly shot down a Siberian Airlines Tu-154M plane en route from Tel Aviv, Israel to Novosibirsk, Russia, during exercises in Crimea. Although at first the Ukrainian side did not admit its guilt, but in the end it took responsibility for the death of 78 people on the plane.
The most famous disaster occurred on July 17, 2014, when pro-Russian separatists in Donbas shot down a Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. There were 298 people on board, including 193 Dutch citizens; they all died.
After the crash, airlines refused to fly in eastern Ukraine; after Russia invaded the country in 2022, the country closed its airspace to civilian flights. Three years after the tragedy, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has for the first time published guidelines for assessing the risk of travel over conflict zones.
In January 2020, the Iranian military mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian international airliner flying from Tehran to Kyiv with 176 passengers on board. The incident happened shortly after Iran attacked US military bases in Iraq in response to the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, one of Iran’s most influential commanders.
Setting “clear and uniform standards”
– The international community should establish precise, clear and uniform criteria for when states should close the airspace under their jurisdiction, UN human rights expert Agnes Callamard said on the anniversary of the downing of the Ukrainian plane in Iran.
He added that in situations of military tension, even if they are not considered armed conflicts, the best way to prevent attacks on civilian flights is simply to close the airspace.
“If states do not act responsibly to close the airspace under their jurisdiction or restrict flights, then other states and airlines have a responsibility to take immediate measures to restrict flights over or near the conflict zone,” said the expert, who now heads Amnesty International. He is in charge of international affairs.
Main photo source: STRINGER/PAP/EPA
