the Azerbaijani president accuses Moscow of wanting to hide the causes of the disaster

The aircraft which was carrying out a commercial flight was targeted by “shots” coming from Russian territory, says Ilham Aliev.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev accused Russia on Sunday December 29 of trying to hide the fact that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which crashed on Wednesday in Kazakhstan, had come under fire from Russian territory. The day after his telephone exchange with Vladimir Putin, the Azerbaijani head of state also demanded a public apology from Moscow after this disaster which cost the lives of 38 people.

According to Ilham Aliev, 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”. The device would have “been rendered uncontrollable by military means of electronic jamming” in the sky of Grozny and “its tail was also badly damaged.” by shots from Russian soil, he said on national television, according to the state agency Azertag.

“Unfortunately, during the first three days we heard only absurd theories from Russia”he accused. “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 declared during his televised speech, still according to the official Azertag agency.

Vladimir Putin admitted on Saturday that Russian air defense was in action when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane attempted to land in Grozny (Russia), before diverting towards Kazakhstan, where it finally crashed. The capital of the Chechnyaas well as the cities of Mozdok and Vladikavkaz, “were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian air defenses repelled these attacks.assured the Russian president, without making a link between these defense shots and the crash of Flight 8243.