Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that Russia shot down the Azerbaijani plane that crashed last week, albeit unintentionally, and criticized Moscow for trying to “cover up” the issue for several days.
He added: “We can say very clearly that Russia shot down the plane. (…) We are not saying that this was done intentionally, but it happened.”
Aliyev said that the plane, which crashed on Wednesday in Kazakhstan, was hit by fire from the ground over Russia and “made out of control with electronic warfare.” Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “cover up” the issue for several days, saying he was “disturbed and surprised” by the versions of events put forward by Russian officials.
“Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except delusional versions,” he said.
The accident led to the death of 38 out of 67 people on board. The Kremlin said that air defense systems opened fire near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, where the plane attempted to land, to avoid a Ukrainian drone strike.
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan made three demands to Russia regarding the incident.
“First, the Russian side should apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, she must admit her guilt. Third, punish the guilty and bring them to criminal liability and pay compensation to the Azerbaijani state, injured passengers and crew members.
Aliyev noted that the first request “has already been fulfilled” when Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to him on Saturday. Putin described the incident as a “tragic accident” but stopped short of acknowledging Moscow’s responsibility.
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He said that the investigation into the incident is continuing, and that “the final version (of events) will be known after the opening of the black boxes.”
He noted that Azerbaijan had always “supported the formation of a group of international experts” to investigate the accident, and had “categorically rejected” Russia’s proposal that the Interstate Aviation Committee, which oversees civil aviation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, investigate the accident.
“It is no secret that this organization consists mostly of Russian officials and is headed by Russian citizens. Objectivity factors cannot be fully guaranteed here,” Aliyev said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Sunday that Putin spoke with Aliyev by phone again, but did not provide details about the conversation.
The Kremlin also said that a joint investigation by Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is underway at the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to Grozny when it headed towards Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and it crashed while trying to land.
Passengers and crew members who survived the accident told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on board the plane as it was flying over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of the Russian Civil Aviation Authority “Rozavyatsia”, said on Friday that while the plane was preparing to land in Grozny amid heavy fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting the authorities to close the area to air traffic.
This is the second fatal civil aviation accident linked to combat in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board, while flying over the region of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia denied responsibility, but in 2022 a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a pro-Russian Ukrainian man for their role in shooting down the plane with an air defense system brought to Ukraine from a Russian military base.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
