Sochi airport is near the Russian-Georgian border, with sharply rising mountainous terrain immediately to the north and east. The minimum safe altitude is 11,900ft (3,630m) and aircraft are not authorised to take off towards, or land from, the direction of the mountains.
The missed-approach procedure for runway 06 involves making a right-hand turn to avoid the terrain, climbing to 2,100ft and rolling out on the opposite-direction heading of 240°.
Russia’s MAK has released details that suggest the twinjet made a particularly tight right turn while executing the procedure.