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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed due to shots fired from Russian territory.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously apologized to Azerbaijan for the fatal crash.
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However, Putin took no responsibility.
Azerbaijan’s president said shooting from Russian territory was the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people.
His comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the incident without taking responsibility.
Ilham Aliyev said on Azerbaijani television on Sunday that he did not believe the incident was intentional, but that the plane was hit “from outside.”
He said, according to Sky News, that the fuselage was “full of holes”, indicating that the theory that the plane hit a flock of birds before crashing was incorrect.
Aliyev added that “some circles in Russia” supported this theory, while Russian officials also suggested that a gas cylinder exploded on board the plane.
“In other words, this clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, which is obviously not appropriate for anyone,” he said.
Aliyev criticized Russia for not immediately responding to the crash, “except for some absurd theories.”
According to Azerbaijani reports, the downing of the plane was related to the Russian interception of Ukrainian drones near the border.
On Saturday, the Kremlin said Putin apologized for the crash during a phone call with Aliyev. Putin has not claimed responsibility.
The Kremlin press service said that Putin had “apologized for the fact that the tragic incident had occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the plane crash and the injured speedy recovery would have liked,” said the Russian Tass. news agency.
38 people were killed and 29 survived in the Azerbaijan Airlines crash on Wednesday
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Kazakh authorities said 38 people were killed, including the pilots, while 29 others survived.
The plane was en route to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, before diverting to Kazakhstan.
Putin said Ukrainian drones and Russian air defenses were operating around Grozny when the plane tried to land, Tass reported.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that the U.S. had seen “some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this plane was downed by Russian air defense systems.”
When asked by the media whether the US had seen intelligence indicating the involvement of an air defense system, Kirby said the short answer was ‘yes’, but he said he would ‘leave it at that’.
Experts and reports have done just that pointed out that Russia is likely behind the crash. Alleged evidence includes the erratic route the plane took, as well as photo and video evidence of the plane showing holes in the fuselage and tail while it was still in the air.
Rashan Nabiyev, Azerbaijani Minister of Digital Development and Transport, told the country’s media that “preliminary conclusions from experts point to external impact,” according to the AP. reported.
“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the investigation,” he added.
The Kremlin initially declined to comment on the allegations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday: “An investigation is currently underway. Every air incident must be investigated by specialized aviation authorities.”
“It would be wrong to formulate hypotheses before the research panel presents its conclusions,” he added.
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