Azerbaijan urges Russia to accept responsibility for Christmas Day plane crash

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called on Russia to accept responsibility for the Christmas Day plane crash that killed 38 people.

The plane reportedly came under fire from Russian air defense systems as it attempted to land in Chechnya before being diverted to Kazakhstan, where it crashed.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to the Azerbaijani president for the downing of the plane in Russian airspace, but did not take responsibility.

Aliyev accused Moscow of initially “covering up” its involvement in the accident. While accepting Putin’s apology, he said Russia “must admit its guilt” and pay compensation.

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane was en route from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, the Chechen capital, on December 25 when it was believed to have come under fire.

Flight J2-8243 was forced to divert from Chechnya and crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.

Most of the passengers on the flight were from Azerbaijan, while others were from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Aviation experts and others believe the plane’s GPS was affected by electronic jamming and was later damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defense missile explosions.

But Aliyev said that in the days following the incident, “Russian agencies presented versions (of events) about the explosion of a gas cylinder”, which “clearly showed that the Russian side wanted cover up the affair,” according to a transcript. from an interview with state media.

He also said some in Russia had clung to the theory that the plane was struck by birds. Aliyev called both theories “stupid and dishonest.”

The Azerbaijani president admitted that the plane was shot down accidentally, but said that in the first three days after the accident, “we heard only absurd versions from Russia.”

Baku made a series of demands to Moscow over the incident on Friday, he said, only one of which – an apology – has so far been met.

On Saturday, Putin said the “tragic incident” occurred as Russian air defense systems repelled Ukrainian drones, and expressed his “deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims.”

The Russian president acknowledged that the plane had tried several times to land at Grozny airport in Chechnya.

However, at the time, the cities of Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were “under attack by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” Putin said.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said Russia must “stop spreading disinformation” and that the damage to the plane’s fuselage was “very reminiscent of an air defense missile strike.”

The Kremlin statement did not directly admit that the plane was hit by Russian missiles.

Aliyev said Baku had asked Russia to “admit guilt,” punish the culprits and pay compensation to Azerbaijan and the injured survivors of the crash.

Azerbaijan and Russia are allies. The Azerbaijani said: “No one would have thought that in a country that is friendly to us, our plane would be targeted by fire from the ground.”

His remarks came as Azerbaijan paid tribute to the pilots and passengers of the downed plane.

Three crew members – captain Igor Kshnyakin, co-pilot Alezander Kalayaninov and flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva – received distinguished honors for landing the plane in a way that allowed 29 people to survive , even if it resulted in their own death.