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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticized Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue for days.
“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia. (…) We are not saying it was done on purpose, but it was done,” he told Azerbaijani state television.
Aliyev said the plane, which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, was hit by ground fire over Russia and “made uncontrollable by electronic warfare.” Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “silence” the issue for several days, and said he was “disturbed and surprised” by versions of events put forward by Russian officials.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except delirious versions,” he said.
The accident killed 38 of the 67 people on board. The Kremlin said air defense systems near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, where the plane was trying to land, fired to repel a Ukrainian drone strike.
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan made three demands to Russia in connection with the accident.
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“First, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must confess its guilt. Third, punish the guilty, bring them to criminal responsibility and pay compensation to the Azerbaijani state, the injured passengers and crew members,” he said.
Aliyev noted that the first demand was “already met” when Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday. Putin called the accident a “tragic incident”, although stopped short of acknowledging Moscow’s responsibility.
He said that an investigation into the accident was ongoing, and that “the final version (of events) will be known after the black boxes have been opened.”
He noted that Azerbaijan was always “for a group of international experts” investigating the crash, and “categorically rejected” Russia’s suggestion that the Interstate Aviation Committee, which oversees civil aviation in the Commonwealth of Independent States States, investigate.
“It’s no secret that this organization consists mostly of Russian officials and is headed by Russian citizens. The factors of objectivity could not be fully guaranteed here,” said Aliyev.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Sunday that Putin had again spoken with Aliyev over the phone, but did not give details of the conversation.
The Kremlin also said a joint investigation by Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan was underway at the crash site near the Kazakh city of Aktau. The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned to Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while attempting to land.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane as it passed over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, said on Friday that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones targeted the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.
The crash is the second fatal civil aviation accident linked to fighting in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board, as it flew over territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russian Ukrainian man for their role in shooting down the plane carrying an air defense system that was brought into Ukraine from a Russian military base.
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
