Azerbaijani leader asks Russia to ‘admit guilt’ in plane crash

Ilham Aliyev accuses Russia of firing at the Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft and trying to cover up the cause of the disaster.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called on Russia to “admit its guilt” for unintentionally shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner, an incident that killed 38 people and injured 29.

Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday while on its way to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia.

“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia,” Aliyev told Azerbaijani state television on Sunday. “We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done.”

He explained that the airliner was struck by ground fire over Russia and “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare”, forcing it off course before it attempted an emergency landing and crashed. Originally, the Kremlin said the crash occurred after the Embraer 190 aircraft hit a flock of birds, but mounting evidence suggested that an antiaircraft missile was the cause.

Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “hush up” the issue for several days, saying he was “upset and surprised” by the conflicting accounts put forward by Russian officials. “Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except delirious versions,” he said.

Last week, a Kazakh aviation safety expert told Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity that “no bird can ever cause such damage”. “It’s absurd and criminal to claim such a thing,” the expert said.

Amid the backlash, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Aliyev for the “tragic incident” in Russian airspace, saying Russian air defences had engaged Ukrainian attack drones.

A Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting a criminal case had been opened.

Aliyev 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,” he said, adding that the first demand had already been addressed with Putin’s apology.

Putin and Aliyev spoke by telephone call again on Sunday, the Kremlin said without giving details. The Kremlin has already announced a joint investigation into the crash with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.