The president of Azerbaijan said on Sunday that the passenger plane that it crashed last week, killing 38 peoplehe was inadvertently shot down by the Russian army. He also accused Russia of trying to “quiet” the issue for several days.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said on state television Sunday that Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was “shot down by accident.”
“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia. (…) We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but yes,” he said.
Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images
He added that the plane had suffered some kind of electrical jam and had been shot down while approaching the southern Russian city of Grozny.
Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “calm down” the issue for several days, saying he was “very surprised” by versions of events presented by Russian officials.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia,” Aliyev said, citing statements made in Russia that attributed the crash to birds or the explosion of some kind of gas cylinder.
“We have witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter,” said the Azerbaijani leader, who has close ties to Russia.
Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
The Azerbaijani plane was flying from the capital Baju to Grozny on Wednesday when it veered off course. It crashed while trying to reach another airport in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan.
Mobile phone footage appears to show the plane making a steep descent before touching down and exploding in a fireball about two kilometers from Aktau airport.
The airline said there were 67 people on board, 62 passengers and five crew members, and 38 people died in the crash. There were 29 survivors.
Aliyev’s remarks come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin he apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for Wednesday “due to the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”
/ AP
The Kremlin said air defense systems were firing near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, where the plane tried to land, to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike.
A Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only saying it had opened a criminal investigation into the incident.
Aliyev said Azerbaijan made three demands to Russia in connection with the accident.
“First, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must admit its guilt. Third, punish the guilty, hold them criminally responsible and pay compensation to the state of Azerbaijan , to the injured passengers and crew members,” he said.
On Friday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that US officials “have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this aircraft was shot down by air defense systems Russians”.
He confirmed that the US has intelligence or information pointing to the possibility, but said that Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are conducting the investigation and that the US will “respect that process”.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises in the plane as it circled over Grozny.