John Kirby, White House spokesperson, said that the US had seen “early indicators” that Russia could have been responsible for the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in December and killed 38 people.

Mr Kirby didn’t elaborate but told reporters that the US offered assistance in the investigation of the crash.

It is believed that the plane was shot down by Russian air defenses as it attempted to land in Chechnya before it was diverted across the Caspian Sea and crashed in Kazakhstan.

The Kremlin refused to comment. However, the head of Russia’s civil aviation agency stated that the situation in Chechnya is “very complex” because of the Ukrainian drone attacks on the region.

The Washington Post reported that Mr Kirby stated the US’s evidence went beyond the widely circulated photographs of the damaged aircraft.

Aviation experts in Azerbaijan and elsewhere believe that the GPS of the plane was affected by electronic jamming, and then it was damaged by shrapnel resulting from Russian air defense missile blasts.

Azerbaijan did not accuse Russia but its transport minister stated that the plane had been damaged both inside and outside as it attempted to land.

Rashad Nabiyev said, “All [survivors] heard three blast noises when the aircraft flew above Grozny”.

Mr Nabiyev stated that investigators will now determine “what type of weapon or rocket was used.”

Rasim Musabekov, a pro-government member of parliament, was unambiguous: “The plane shot down was over Russian territory in the skies above Grozny.” It is impossible to deny this.

According to him, AFP reported that the plane was damaged and the pilot asked for an emergency landing at Grozny. He said that instead of being directed to nearby airfields, the plane was “sent far” across the Caspian Sea with no GPS.

Zulfiqar Asadov, a flight attendant in Chechnya, described the moment when “some sort of external strike” hit the plane.

The impact caused panic in the interior. We tried to calm down the children and get them to sit. “At that moment, my arm was hurt by another strike.”

Pilots of an Embraer 190 aircraft are credited for saving 29 people by landing part of the plane despite their deaths in the crash.

The Kremlin refused to comment on the growing number of reports that Azerbaijan Airlines’ plane was struck by Russian air defense.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said: “An investigation is currently underway into this aviation accident. Until the conclusion of the investigation has been reached, we don’t consider ourselves to be entitled to make any assessments.”

The Kazakh authorities are treating the injured and working closely together with Azerbaijan to investigate.

Azerbaijan, however, has demanded a global inquiry. According to reports in Baku, both Russia and Kazakhstan proposed that a committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States investigate the crash. The CIS is a regional organization dominated by Russia.