Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev has alleged that the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, claiming 38 lives, was shot at by Russia. He further accused Russia of hiding the cause of the plane crash. Aliyev accused Moscow of attempting to conceal the cause of the crash which took place earlier this week, insisting Russia should admit its “guilt” in the disaster, claiming the plane was mistakenly shot down.
“The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and almost lost control. We also know that electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control,” Aliyev told state media, as quoted by news agency AFP.
“Admitting guilt, apologising in a timely manner to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this –- all these were measures and steps that should have been taken,” he further added.
The statement came on Sunday, a day after Russian president Vladimir Putin apologised to Aliyev for the incident but stopped short of taking responsibility.
Aliyev previously informed Putin that the aircraft experienced “external physical and technical interference” while flying over Russian airspace. According to the Azerbaijani presidential office statement, “President Ilham Aliyev emphasised that the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane encountered external interference in Russian airspace, leading to a complete loss of control.”
Some Azerbaijani officials reportedly indicated that a Russian air defence missile might have caused the crash. In contrast, other accounts speculated about Ukrainian involvement or attributed the crash to an accident, such as a bird strike.