Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday required that Russia confess that it discharged at an Azerbaijan Airlines guest jet prior to it collapsed, implicating Moscow of originally attempting to conceal the source of the deadly catastrophe.
Aliyev made the complaint in a meeting to state media at Baku airport terminal 4 days after the AZAL Embraer 190 airplane collapsed in Kazakhstan, eliminating 38 of the 67 individuals aboard.
Azerbaijani authorities have actually recommended that the airplane was struck by a Russian air-defence system as it attempted to land in Grozny, funding of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
The transportation ministry in Kazakhstan on Sunday stated that the plane’s black box would certainly be sent out for evaluation to Brazil, which makes the Embraer airplane.
Aliyev’s abnormally sincere complaint of his nation’s standard ally came a day after he talked by telephone to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A Kremlin declaration concerning the telephone call provided no indicator that Putin had actually asserted duty for the collision.
“The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and almost lost control,” Aliyev informed state tv.
“We also know that electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control… At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged,” he stated.
Aliyev stated that while “our plane was hit by accident”, Baku was upset that Moscow had actually obviously attempted to conceal the source of the collision and required its ally confess duty.
He stated it was “regrettable and surprising” that Moscow “put forward theories” that, he stated, “clearly showed the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue”.
“For the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except some absurd theories,” he stated, including that these consisted of the airplane striking a group of birds.
He called the concept “completely removed” from fact, mentioning that the airplane’s “fuselage is riddled with holes”.
Russia has actually stated that Grozny was being struck by Ukrainian drones the day that the AZAL trip attempted to land.
– Azerbaijani needs –
Aliyev advised Moscow to release a public apology to his nation, stating Baku had actually made authorities “demands” to Russia 2 days back.
“First, the Russian side must apologise to Azerbaijan.
“Second, it should recognize its sense of 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 problems,” Aliyev said, in unusually strong language directed at Moscow.
The Kremlin on Saturday said that during their phone conversation, Putin had apologised to Azerbaijan over the ” awful event”.
Putin said Russian air defence was operating in Grozny on December 25 when the plane tried to land, before diverting and crashing in western Kazakhstan.
The Kremlin statement gave no indication that Putin had said Russia was at fault. Later on Saturday, the Russian leader called for a ” clear” probe into the crash.
Aliyev’s office on Saturday said that he had ” stressed” during the call that the plane had been subject to outside interference over Russia.
Russian news agencies reported that Putin and Aliyev discussed the crash again on Sunday.
The United States this week said that it had ” very early indicators” that Russia was responsible for the crash but did not provide details.
The European Union on Saturday called for a ” swift” and ” independent” probe into the crash.
The International Air Transport Association on Sunday called for a ” extensive, clear and unbiased” probe.
“We should figure out why this disaster took place and act to make sure there is never ever a repeat,” it said in a statement.
“Civil airplane should never ever be the designated or unintentional target of armed forces procedures.”
bur/gil/yad/ bc
