Azerbaijan's president said shots from Russia caused the deadly plane

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed because of shots fired from Russian territory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously apologized to Azerbaijan for the fatal crash.
Putin did not take responsibility, however.

Azerbaijan’s president said that shooting from Russian territory caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people.

His comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the incident without taking responsibility.

Ilham Aliyev said on Azerbaijani television Sunday that he didn’t believe the incident was intentional but that the aircraft was hit “from the outside.”

He said, per Sky News, that the fuselage was “riddled with holes,” indicating that the theory the plane hit a flock of birds before crashing was incorrect.

Aliyev added that “some circles in Russia” supported this theory, while Russian officials also suggested a gas cylinder exploded on board the plane.

“In other words, this clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, which, of course, is unbecoming of anyone,” he said.

Aliyev went on to criticize Russia for not responding to the crash immediately, “except for some absurd theories.”

According to Azerbaijani reports, the downing of the plane was connected to Russia’s interception of Ukrainian drones near its border.

On Saturday, the Kremlin said Putin apologized for the crash during a phone call with Aliyev. Putin stopped short of claiming responsibility.

The Kremlin’s press office said that Putin had “offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia’s airspace and once again conveyed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the plane crash victims and wished those injured the quickest recovery,” per Russia’s Tass news agency.

38 people died and 29 survived the Azerbaijan Airlines crash on Wednesday

Azerbaijan Airlines flight Flight 8243 crash-landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Kazakh authorities said 38 people died, including the pilots, while 29 others survived.

The aircraft was traveling to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, from Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, before it diverted to Kazakhstan.

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Putin said that Ukrainian drones and Russian air defenses were operating around Grozny as the plane attempted to land, Tass reported.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that the US had “seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems.”

When questioned by media whether the US had seen intelligence that pointed to the involvement of an air defense system, Kirby said the short answer was “yes” but said he would “leave it at that.”

Experts and reports have also pointed to Russia likely being behind the crash. Alleged evidence includes the erratic route the plane took as well as photo and video evidence of the aircraft that shows holes in its fuselage and tail while it was still in the air.

Rashan Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital development and transportation, told the country’s media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” the AP reported.

“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” he added.

The Kremlin had initially refused to comment on the allegations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday: “Currently an investigation is in progress. Any air incident should be investigated by specialized aviation authorities.”

“It would be wrong to build any hypotheses before the panel of inquiry presents its conclusions,” he added.

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