Plane Damaged By Ground Fire - Aliyev

In an interview, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev discussed the AZAL plane crash near Aqtau, Orda.kz reports, citing AzerTAC.

One notable topic was the reasons:

Of course, the final version will become known after the black boxes are decoded. But the initial versions are also well-founded and based on facts. And the facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian aircraft was damaged from the outside on Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and practically lost control. We also know that our aircraft was rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare systems. This is the first damage inflicted on the aircraft,said Aliyev.

Aliyev also discussed other versions.

One of the things that upset and surprised us was that Russian official structures put forward versions of an explosion of a gas cylinder. That is, it openly showed that the Russian side wanted to hush up the issue, and this, of course, does not reflect well, AzerTAC quotes Aliyev.

He added that Baku expects Moscow to “admit guilt, punish the guilty, and pay compensation.”

At the same time, the President of Azerbaijan emphasized that the plane was not shot down intentionally.

This is a significant official statement about the causes of the plane crash. 

Previously, media reports emerged citing government sources.

Following the plane crash, Ilham Aliyev spoke on the phone with Kazakh President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev.

The next day, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Aliyev and apologized for the "incident" with the plane in Russian airspace.

The statements made by the President of Azerbaijan allude to this being insufficient.

After the above interview, Putin called Aliyev, but details are scant.

Original Author: Rimma Karatayeva