Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijani plane that incident last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unfortunately, and Moscow was criticized for trying to “dismiss” the issue for days.
“We can say with absolute clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia. (…) We are not saying that it was done on purpose, but it was done,” he told Azerbaijani state television.
Aliyev said that the plane, a Wednesday's accident in Kazakhstan, hit by ground fire over Russia and “made uncontrollable by electronic warfare.” Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “inflame” the issue for several days, saying he was “confused and surprised” by versions of events put forward by Russian officials.
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“Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia but delirious drafts,” he said.
The accident killed 38 of 67 people on board. The Kremlin said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian Republic in Chechnya, where the plane attempted to land, to defend against a Ukrainian drone strike.
Aliyev said that Azerbaijan made three requests to Russia in connection with the accident.
“First of all, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, he must plead guilty. 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 request was “already fulfilled” when Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to him on Saturday. Putin called the accident a “tragic incident” although he did not acknowledge Moscow's responsibility.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Sunday that Putin had spoken with Aliyev by phone again, but did not provide details of the conversation.
The Kremlin also said that a joint investigation by Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan has begun at the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. The plane was flying from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to Grozny when it turned into Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers (miles) across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while he was trying to land.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane as it circled over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, the 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, forcing authorities to close the area to air traffic.
The accident 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, while flying over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine. Moscow-backed secession in 2014.
Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 to convict two Russians and a Ukrainian dissident for their role in downing the plane with an air defense system imported into Ukraine from a Russian military base.
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Associate reporter Aida Sultanova in London contributed to this report.
