By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday accused Russia of firing at an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane on Christmas Day, shortly before it crashed, killing 38 out of 67 passengers on board, including crew members.
Aliyev, in an interview with state media at Baku airport four days after the AZAL plane crashed in Kazakhstan, said Russia had initially attempted to cover up its role in the plane crash, demanding that Moscow admit guilt.
He further urged Moscow to issue a public apology to his country, saying Baku had made official “demands” to Russia two days ago.
“First, the Russian side must apologise to Azerbaijan.
“Second, it must acknowledge its guilt.
“Third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility, and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state, as well as to the injured passengers and crew members.
“These are our conditions,” Aliyev said, in unusually strong language towards Moscow.
Azerbaijani officials had raised suspicions that the aircraft was hit by a Russian air defence system as it tried to land in Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Aliyev’s pointed accusation against Moscow, his country’s traditional ally, came a day after he had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin said on Saturday that during their phone conversation, Putin had apologised to Azerbaijan over the “tragic incident”, but Moscow did not accept responsibility for the crash.
“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,” Aliyev told state television.
“We also know that electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control… At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged,” he said.
Aliyev stated that while “of course, our plane was hit by accident,” Baku was angry that Moscow had apparently tried to hide the cause of the crash and demanded its ally admit what happened.
He said it was “regrettable and surprising” that Moscow “put forward theories” that, he said, “clearly showed the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue”.
“For the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except some absurd theories,” he said, adding that these included the plane hitting a flock of birds.
He called the theory “completely removed” from reality, pointing out that the plane’s “fuselage is riddled with holes”.
Russia has said Grozny was being attacked by Ukrainian drones the day the AZAL flight tried to land.
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.
Ukraine also said Russia should be held responsible for the crash.
