Azerbaijani authorities investigating last week's Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan are probing the "disturbing" possibility that Russian air traffic controllers may have directed the damaged plane out over the Caspian Sea,

The flight was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s south, when it diverted and attempted an emergency landing in Kazakhstan.

The cause of the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, is still unknown. The Kremlin has so far been tight-lipped, prompting questions over its messaging.

On 25 December, 38 people died when an Azerbaijan Airlines flight, which had been due to land in Russia, crash-landed in Kazakhstan. The circumstances around the crash remain unclear, but limited evidence so far suggests it may have been damaged by missiles fired by a Russian air-defence system as it tried to land in Chechnya.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev following the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan that resulted in 38 fatalities, according to the Kremlin.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally shooting down an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering up the cause.