31 December 2024, 19:31
Aliev demands compensation from Russia for plane crash
The Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliev, has demanded from Russia to admit its guilt in the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane, punish those responsible and pay compensation.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 25, an AZAL plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed in Kazakhstan. There were 62 passengers and five crew members on board, 29 of them survived. On December 28, Vladimir Putin apologized to Ilham Aliev for the fact that the incident occurred in the Russian airspace.
The emergency on board coincided with the drone attack on Grozny; and traces of damage on the plane's skin may indicate an explosion inside or outside, Russian experts have stated.
Ilham Aliev blamed Russia for the plane crash. He noted that on December 27, Baku's demands were officially communicated to the Russian side.
"First, the Russia must apologize to Azerbaijan; second, it must admit its guilt; third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility; and the Azerbaijani state, the injured passengers and crew must be paid due compensations. These are our conditions. The first of them was already fulfilled yesterday. I hope that the other ones will be accepted as well," Aliev has stated.
Earlier, Rasim Musabekov, an Azeri MP, demanded from Russia to take responsibility and apologize for the plane crash.
Russian military experts assert that the nature of the damage to the plane fails to confirm the version of the involvement of Russian air defence systems in its crash. In their turn, Baku analysts have indicated that the crash could have been caused by the impact of the Russian air defence system.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 29, 2024 at 07:07 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Faik Medjid Source: СK correspondent
