The Azerbaijani president accused Russia on Sunday, December 29 for wanting to hide that the plane of the national company which crashed Wednesday in Kazakhstan came under fire from Russian territory, and demanded a public apology from Moscow.
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”. “Admit (one’s) guilt, present a timely apology to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly countryand informing the public about it, these are all measures and steps that should have been taken,” he said on national television, according to state agency Azertag.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin press release, apologized to Ilham Aliev on Saturday December 28, acknowledged the shooting, but without admitting that the plane had been hit. He also claimed that the area was then under attack from Ukrainian drones.
According to the Azerbaijani president, this Embraer 190 aircraft of the national airline, which left Baku on Wednesday“was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny”the capital of Chechnya, its destination.
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 shot without Moscow commenting.
Ongoing investigation
According to Russia, Grozny was the target of a Ukrainian drone attack on the day of the crash and was shrouded in thick fog which prevented any visibility beyond an altitude of 500 meters.
According to her, it’s the captainafter having attempted 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 landed is finally crushed.
“After reviewing the flight recorders and obtaining more detailed information, a full picture of what happened will be made public.”promised President Ilham Aliev on Sunday.
According to Russian news agencies, Aliev and Putin spoke again on Sunday, December 29. 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.
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