Russia attempts to conceal drone attack on Chechnya after plane crash in Kazakhstan – Media
Illustrative photo: Russian air defense attempted to repel a drone attack on Chechnya (Getty Images)
The Russian authorities are trying to conceal the fact of a drone attack on Chechnya. This attack may be connected to the crash of a passenger aircraft in Kazakhstan, according to Agentstvo.Novosti on Telegram.
According to the news agency, Chechen authorities did not acknowledge the drone attack on the region even 10 hours after it occurred. State agencies and law enforcement-linked Telegram channels contained only one mention of the incident and one attempt to deny it.
Notably, posts from the Russian Ministry of Defense, which usually boasts about "destroying Ukrainian drones," did not refer to attacks on the Caucasus regions.
Meanwhile, a post was published on Ksenia Sobchak’s (Russian media personality - ed.) Krovavaya barynya Telegram channel, claiming that the Chechen Emergency Situations Ministry denied any attempted drone attack on Grozny.
Interestingly, Russian authorities also initially tried to conceal an attack on neighboring North Ossetia. However, the head of North Ossetia, Sergey Menyaylo, later claimed that drone debris allegedly fell on a shopping center in Vladikavkaz.
"According to the Ministry of Defense, a drone attack targeted several regions of the North Caucasus Federal District," stated the official from the aggressor country.
Crash of an Azerbaijani aircraft
On December 25, an aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Kazakhstan, resulting in the deaths of 38 passengers. Another 29 people survived and were taken to hospitals.
The plane was flying from Baku to Grozny but failed to land upon reaching the Chechen capital.
Following the crash, reports surfaced online that damage was found on the rear section of the aircraft, possibly caused by air defense systems.
Meanwhile, the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Andrii Kovalenko, emphasized that the aircraft was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile system. He clarified that Russian authorities had failed to close the airspace over Grozny during a drone attack, which coincided with the flight of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane.
