MOSCOW (Reuters) - UAE airline flydubai has suspended flights from Dubai to the southern Russian airports of Sochi and Mineralnie Vody, the carrier said on Friday.

Flydubai said the flights were suspended due to technical reasons, with flights to Sochi suspended until Jan. 2 and to Mineralnie Vody until Jan. 3.

The airline's statement comes after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed in the Kazakhstan city of Aktau.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.

Following the crash, flights to some regions of Russia have already been suspended by Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air, Israel's El Al and Azerbaijan Airlines.

(This story has been refiled to correct a typo in the headline)

(Writing by Felix Light; editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)