Brian Taylor, professor of political science and director of the Center for European Studies at Syracuse University and author of State Building in Putin’s Russia: Policing and Coercion After Communism and Politics and the Russian Army: Civil-Military Relations, 1689-2000 said the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 raises difficult questions for the Russian government.
“Russia has cautioned that it is premature to reach any firm conclusions about what caused the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268, which killed 224 people, most of them Russian citizens. This was the worst air disaster in Russian and Soviet history. Of the different theories about the crash – terrorism, mechanical failure, or pilot error – all raise difficult questions for the Russian government. If it was a terrorist attack, people will obviously connect it to Russia’s decision to intervene in the Syrian civil war. If it was mechanical failure or pilot error, there would inevitably be questions about how effectively the Russian state regulates the commercial airline industry, which has experienced a series of accidents over the last decade, particularly with smaller carriers.”
Professor Taylor is available for media interviews can be reached via email at bdtaylor@maxwell.syr.edu
