The crash of an Azerbaijani airliner last week that crashed on the Caspian Sea: Air defense systems responding to a Russian attack
Aliyev said that the first demand was fulfilled when Putin apologized on Saturday. Putin called the crash a “tragic incident” though stopped short of acknowledging Moscow’s responsibility.
An official Kremlin statement issued on Saturday said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the airliner “repeatedly” attempted to land there on Wednesday. It did not explicitly say one of these hit the plane.
There were flights to several Russian airports that were suspended in the days following the crash. It didn’t say where the interference came from or give any further details.
The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers (miles) across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while making an attempt to land. There were 29 survivors.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticized Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue for days.
Aliyev noted that the plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had sustained injuries “due to foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight.”
On Friday, a U.S. official and an Azerbaijani minister made separate statements blaming the crash on an external weapon, echoing those made by aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defense systems responding to a Ukrainian attack.
Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for their role in downing the plane with an air defense system brought into Ukraine from a Russian military base.
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According to Russian state media, Putin had spoken to Aliyev over the phone again, but did not provide any details of the conversation.