What the reports said by 31 December 2024 on the Baku crash
A look back at the claims about Flight 8243 and the Estlink-2 cable case as they stood at the end of 2024.
What was known about two separate incidents by 31 December 2024? Reports from the preceding days pointed to serious allegations involving Russia in both.
The Azerbaijan Airlines crash
On 26 December 2024, Azerbaijani government officials told Reuters that a Russian military surface-to-air missile, launched from a Pantsir-S system, was responsible for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane the day before. The crash killed 38 people. The officials also said the aircraft's GPS navigation system had been jammed during the flight.
On 27 December 2024, Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights to seven cities in Russia following the crash of Flight 8243, amid allegations that the plane had been hit by a Russian missile.
The Estlink-2 cable case
Separately, on 26 December 2024, Finnish border guards and police detained a Russian vessel suspected of damaging the Estlink-2 submarine power cable. The detention took place the previous day, 25 December 2024.
By the last day of the year, the two stories stood as open questions: the airline had curtailed its Russian routes, and the vessel suspected over the cable remained a matter for Finnish authorities.
