According to Azerbaijani Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, told him that “intensive measures are being taken to identify the culprits and bring them to criminal responsibility for their actions.”
Moscow also promised to “conduct a complete, exhaustive and objective investigation” into the accident this Wednesday of an Azerbaijani airliner, in addition to the investigations carried out in Kazakhstan, where the plane crashed, said the Prosecutor's Office Azerbaijani in a press release.
An ongoing investigation
Russia has not admitted its responsibility for this crash, which left 38 dead, despite a request to this effect from Azerbaijan.
According to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor's Office, Moscow nevertheless “provided the necessary support to the prosecutors sent to Grozny”, the capital of Chechnya, where the plane had tried to land unsuccessfully twice before crashing in Aktau, other side of the Caspian Sea.
Investigations are also being carried out at the accident site “with the participation of professional investigators and experts from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Brazil”, the latter country being the manufacturer of the Embraer aircraft.
The Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliev, affirmed this Sunday that this Azerbaijan Airlines airliner, which was flying the Baku-Grozny route, had been “shot” over Russian territory.
He accused Moscow of wanting to hide its responsibility for the crash and demanded a public apology and compensation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev on Saturday and admitted that air defense fire had taken place on the day of the crash due to a Ukrainian drone attack, but without acknowledging that the plane had been hit.
