Since Wednesday, the day this plane crashed after failing to land in Grozny, in southern Russia, suspicions have been growing around a Russian anti-aircraft defense shot. Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin statement, apologized to Mr. Aliyev on Saturday, acknowledged shooting but without admitting that the plane had been hit. He also claimed that the area was then under attack from Ukrainian drones.
“Guilt.” According to Mr. Aliev, this Embraer 190 aircraft of the Azerbaijani national airline which left Baku on Wednesday “was damaged from the outside above Russian territory, near the city of Grozny”, the capital of Chechnya, its destination . Near Grozny, the plane “almost lost control” because of the “military electronic jamming systems which were in action, then the tail of the aircraft was also seriously damaged by shots from the Russian ground”, a continued Mr. Aliev in a television interview reported by the Azertag agency. He pointed out Russia’s “guilt”, while noting that the “plane was hit by accident”.
The crash left 38 dead, and 29 people survived. Testimonies from the latter and images of the tail of the plane riddled with holes had supported the theory of a Russian anti-aircraft defense attack without Moscow commenting. Mr. Aliev, whose country maintains good relations with Russia, regretted that Russian authorities and media have put forward various versions, such as a flock of birds or the explosion of a gas balloon on board, to trying to “cover up the affair”.
Russia must therefore apologize, admit its responsibility, punish the guilty and pay compensation to Azerbaijan and the victims of the crash, said Mr. Aliev. “The first was heard on Saturday (with Mr. Putin’s apologies, editor’s note). I hope that the other conditions will be accepted too,” he insisted. “Admitting (his) guilt, apologizing in a timely manner (…) and informing the public about it, these are all measures and steps that should have been taken,” regretted Mr. Aliev. “Unfortunately, during the first three days, we heard only absurd theories from Russia,” he added.
Drones. According to Russia, Grozny was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack on the day of the crash and was enveloped in thick fog which prevented all visibility above an altitude of 500 meters. According to her, it was the captain, after having tried twice without success to land in Grozny, who chose, between several airport proposals, to go to Aktau in Kazakhstan, on the other side of the Caspian Sea, where the aircraft ultimately crashed.
“After examining the flight recorders and obtaining more detailed information, a complete picture of what happened will be made public,” President Ilham Aliyev promised on Sunday. According to Russian news agencies, MM. Aliyev and Putin spoke again on Sunday. The White House assured Friday that it had “preliminary indications that suggest the possibility that this plane was shot down by Russian air defense systems.”
The European Union called for a “rapid and independent” investigation, through its head of diplomacy, Kaja Kallas. She spoke of “a brutal reminder” of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down by a pro-Russian rebel missile over Ukraine in 2014. According to the Kazakh authorities, 17 experts of different nationalities are participating in the investigations. Among them, two Russians and Brazilians, Embraer being a Brazilian manufacturer. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is also to join the investigation. Since the disaster, several airlines including Flydubai and the Kazakh company Qazaq Air and the Israeli El Al have indicated that they are suspending flights to Russia.
© Agence France-Presse
Belgium
