Crash in Kazakhstan: the plane was targeted by “fire” from Russia according to the Azerbaijani president

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, was targeted by “shots” coming from Russian territory, while the trail of a Russian anti-aircraft missile seems to be confirmed.

Damaged from the outside

“The facts are that the Azerbaijani civil plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory […] the tail of the plane was seriously damaged by fire from the ground”, Mr. Aliyev said in a television interview, reported by the Azertag news agency. He also indicated that the plane had been returned “uncontrollable” by military means of electronic jamming.

Ilham Aliev estimated that the various versions of the facts put forward by Russia after the crash “clearly show that the Russian side wanted to cover up the affair.” “Admitting (one’s) guilt, issuing a timely apology to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about it, these are all measures and steps that should have been taken”he said on national television, according to the state agency Azertag.

Vladimir Putin acknowledges intervention during the drama

Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Saturday, according to the Kremlin, that Russian air defense was in action on Wednesday when an Azerbaijani plane attempted to land, an aircraft which crashed shortly after in Kazakhstan.

Mr. Putin noted, in a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, that “the Azerbaijani airliner had repeatedly attempted to land at Grozny airport. At the same time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian air defenses repelled these attacks”.

The Russian president, however, did not indicate whether the plane had been hit by these defenses. Since Wednesday’s disaster, suspicion has focused on Russia, which may have accidentally shot down the plane.