Russia accidentally shot down the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed on Christmas Day, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday.
Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijani TV that damage to the plane was “due to shooting from the ground,” Reuters and Sky News reported.
Aliyev’s comments come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to him in a phone call but stopped short of accepting responsibility for the downing.
Putin said the airliner was attempting to land in Grozny amid Ukrainian drone attacks in the area. “Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” he added.
The Azerbaijani president added that “some circles” in Russia had attempted to cover up the true nature of the plane crash by suggesting it was caused by a flock of birds or the explosion of a gas cylinder on the airliner.
“In other words, this clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, which, of course, is unbecoming of anyone,” Aliyev said.
He added that the incident was “of course” accidental. “There can be no talk of a deliberate act of terror here. Therefore, admitting the guilt, apologizing in a timely manner to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this — all these were measures and steps that should have been taken,” Aliyev said.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except for some absurd theories,” he said.
The civilian airliner was flying on Wednesday from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechen Republic. After passengers reported hearing a blast, the plane diverted hundreds of kilometers from its route and crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. There were 29 survivors.
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