Baku rejects Russian partial apology

Transporting the coffin of a victim of the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer-190AR plane crash, near the Kazakh city of Aktau, December 28, 2024. AZIZ KARIMOV / REUTERS Moscow’s attitude following the disaster air raid of December 25, 2024 in which thirty-eight people died, considerably irritated Baku. “The responsibility for the death of Azerbaijani citizens lies with the representatives of Russia (…) our anger is justified by the cover-ups of the Russian side,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev was indignant on January 6. Speaking in Baku before the three surviving crew members of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) flight J2-8243, he demanded that Moscow “acknowledge its responsibility”, punish the guilty and compensate the victims. Vladimir Putin waited three days to present a partial apology “in connection with the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace”, but without admitting Russian responsibility. The disaster of flight J2-8243 took place in two stages. An AZAL Embraer-190AR flying from Baku to Grozny (Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation) was, according to numerous indications, mistakenly damaged following fire from a “Pantsir” anti-aircraft system near the airport from Grozny, during an alert caused by the intrusion of Ukrainian drones. Gradually losing control of the aircraft, the pilots then, for an as yet undetermined reason, flew over the Caspian Sea to crash 450 kilometers further near Aktau airport, in Kazakhstan. You have 64.97% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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