Russia is responsible for the plane crash involving an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger airliner near Aktau, and Russia’s attempts to “avoid the topic” cause indignation and bewilderment of the Azerbaijani side, President Ilham Aliyev said.
“I can say with certainty that the blame for the fact that Azerbaijani citizens died in this disaster lies on the representatives of the Russian Federation. And we demand justice, we demand punishment of the guilty, we demand full transparency and human behavior,” he stressed during a meeting with family members of the crew killed in the plane crash and surviving flight attendants.
Aliyev emphasized that the operation “Cover” in Grozny, where Embraer 190 flying from Baku with 67 passengers on board was supposed to land, was announced after the airliner was shot down from the ground. “If timely measures had been taken to close the airspace over the city of Grozny, ground handling rules had been observed and coordination between the armed forces and civilian services of the Russian Federation had been established, this tragedy could have been avoided,” he said.
