Ilham Aliyev accuses Russia of shooting down Azerbaijan Airlines and trying to cover up the cause of the crash.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called on Russia to “accept guilt” for the accidental shooting down of an Azerbaijani airliner, which killed 38 people and injured 29.
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 it is destroyed near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday on his way to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia.
“We can clearly say that the plane was shot down by Russia,” Aliyev told Azerbaijani television on Sunday. “We're not saying it was intentional, but it happened.”
He explained that the plane was hit by ground fire in Russia it is “uncontrolled by electronic warfare”, forcing it to stop before it tries to suddenly descend and collapse. Initially, the Kremlin said that the accident happened when the Embraer 190 plane hit a flock of birds, but more evidence he said it launched anti-aircraft missiles.
Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “suppress” the issue for several days, saying he was “disappointed and surprised” by the conflicting stories given by Russian officials. “Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except bad translations,” he said.
Last week, a Kazakh aviation security expert told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity that “no bird would do such damage”. “It is senseless and a crime to say such things,” said the expert.
In the middle of the crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Aliyev for the “unfortunate incident” in the Russian plane, saying that the Russian air defense launched Ukrainian drones.
The Kremlin statement did not say that Russia had shot down the plane, only that a case had been opened.
Aliyev urged Moscow to publicly apologize to his country, saying Baku had made “demands” on Russia two days ago.
“First, the Russian side should apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it should admit its guilt. Third, the people responsible should be punished, brought to justice and compensation should be paid to the government of Azerbaijan, as well as to the injured and the workers involved. This is what we are facing,” he said, adding that his demands had already been met with Putin's apology.
Putin and Aliyev also spoke by phone on Sunday, the Kremlin said without giving details. The The Kremlin has already announced a joint investigation into the accident with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.