The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan has effectively acknowledged that President Ilham Aliyev’s official aircraft, “Baku-1,” encountered external technical interference while flying to St. Petersburg, Russia for the informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on December 25. The revelation comes amid growing scrutiny of the incident, including reports of a GPS signal loss over Russian airspace, Turan reports.

The disclosure follows an independent report by Turan news agency on January 4, which stated that the presidential aircraft abruptly left Russian airspace and returned to Baku due to unforeseen radio-technical issues.

“Specifically, Azerbaijan’s transport ministry highlighted that during flight AZAL J2-8243 through Russian airspace, including over Grozny Airport, the aircraft lost GPS signals. This indicates that the disruption was not confined to Chechnya but extended to other sections of Russian airspace where the aircraft was flying.

The timing of the acknowledgment coincides with Azerbaijan’s response to the investigation of the crash of flight AZAL J2-8243 on December 25 near Aktau, Kazakhstan. Notably, both aircraft encountered similar technical issues, particularly the loss of GPS signals in Russian-controlled airspace. According to Azerbaijani sources, the commercial plane encountered “blinding” disruptions, rendering navigation and landing impossible at any airport in the North Caucasus, ultimately forcing it to divert to Kazakhstan,” Turan added, in particular.