Azerbaijan is in mourning on Friday following the devastating crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 passenger plane near Aktau, Kazakhstan. The crash, which occurred on the morning of December 25,

Russian aviation authorities did not allow the plane to land in any of the multiple airports nearby, forcing the pilots to fly over the stormy Caspian Sea to try to land in the western Kazakh city of Aktau. The plane crashed close to Aktau airport.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday blamed the Russian war in Ukraine for the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan. "Russia's brutal war against Ukraine is affecting more and more innocent people - even outside Ukraine. This is shown by the air disaster in Aktau, which must be fully investigated," Scholz wrote on X.

Russian air defense missile may have downed Azerbaijani plane, media say Russia terrorizes Ukraine with mass missile, drone attack against energy grid on Christmas morning Ukrainian drones destroy Russian ammunition depot in Rostov Oblast,

The extraction of flight data from the Brazilian-made Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan last month was completed at a lab run by Brazil's air force, according to a statement released by the entity on Monday.

In the crash’s aftermath, Azerbaijan has unleashed rare and stinging criticism of Russia, with the country’s president saying Moscow’s response has caused “surprise, regret and rightful indignation.”

"The blame for this disaster lies with representatives of the Russian Federation," Ilham Aliyev said on Jan. 6.