Baku: Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday accused Russia of shooting down an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane before it crashed and initially trying to cover up the cause of the deadly disaster, demanding that Moscow admit guilt.
Aliyev made the allegation in an interview with state media at Baku airport four days after the crash of an AZAL airliner in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
Azerbaijani officials have suggested that the plane was hit by a Russian air-defense system as it was trying to land in Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Aliyev’s unusually frank accusation against his country’s traditional ally came a day after he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A Kremlin statement on the phone call gave no indication that Putin took responsibility for the accident.
“The fact is that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged outside Russian territory near the city of Grozny and almost lost control,” Aliyev told state television.
“We also know that the electronic warfare system caused our aircraft to go out of control… Additionally, the tail section of the aircraft was also seriously damaged as a result of ground fire,” he said.
Aliyev said that “of course, our plane had crashed”, Baku was angry that Moscow had apparently tried to hide the cause of the crash and demanded its ally to admit what happened. .
He said it was “regrettable and surprising” that Moscow “put forward theories”, which he said “clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to hide the issue”.
“In the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except some wild theories,” he said, including that the plane had hit a flock of birds.
He called the theory “completely removed” from reality, stating that the plane’s “fuselage is full of holes”.
Russia has said that on the day the AZAL flight tried to land, Grozny was being attacked by Ukrainian drones.
Azerbaijani demands
Aliyev urged Moscow to issue a public apology to his country, saying that Baku had made official “demands” to Russia two days earlier.
“First of all, the Russian side should apologize to Azerbaijan.
“Second, he has to admit his crime.
“Third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility, and the Azerbaijani state, as well as the injured passengers and crew members, must be compensated.
“These are our conditions,” Aliyev said in unusually strong language toward Moscow.
The Kremlin said Saturday that Putin had apologized to Azerbaijan over the “tragic incident” during a phone conversation.
Putin said Russian air defenses were operating over Grozny on December 25 when the plane tried to land in western Kazakhstan before diverting and crashing.
The Kremlin statement gave no indication that Putin had said Russia was at fault. Later Saturday, the Russian leader called for a “transparent” investigation into the crash.
Aliyev’s office said on Saturday that he had “emphasized” during the call that the plane was subject to external interference by Russia.
Russian news agencies reported that Putin and Aliyev discussed the crash again on Sunday.
The United States said this week it had “early indications” that Russia was responsible for the crash, but did not provide details.
The European Union on Saturday called for a “prompt” and “independent” investigation into the crash.
