Azerbaijan plane crash: Canada urges Russia to allow transparent probe – National [Video]

Canada said on Thursday it was deeply concerned by reports that Russian air defense may have struck the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed on Wednesday, and called on Moscow to allow for an open and transparent investigation into the incident.

“Canada is deeply concerned by reports that Russian Air Defence Forces may have fired a missile on Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 causing it to crash land,” the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement on X.

“We call on Russia to allow for an open and transparent investigation into the incident and to accept its findings,” the ministry said.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.

Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air …