The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, acknowledged this Thursday, October 9, before his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliev, Russia’s responsibility in the accident that occurred at the end of 2024 of an Azerbaijan Airlines airliner, hit by remains of anti-aircraft missiles.
The plane, linking Baku with Grozny, first attempted to land at its intended destination, before being redirected to Kazakhstan, where it crashed on December 25, 2024, killing 38 people.
Russian air defense in action
This tragedy caused increased tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan. Vladimir Putin had previously apologized, admitting Russian fire at the time of the tragedy but without directly acknowledging Russian responsibility.
On Thursday, the Russian president explained that Russian air defenses were in action on the day of the tragedy due to the presence of Ukrainian drones in the skies over Grozny.
“The two (Russian) missiles fired did not directly hit the plane (…), but rather exploded, perhaps by self-destruction, a few meters away, about 10 meters,” declared Vladimir Putin during this meeting with Ilham Aliev in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
“That is why the destruction (of the plane) occurred, but not by combat elements, but by the remains of the missiles,” he continued, promising President Aliyev compensation and an investigation into the decisions of all those involved.
Aliev thanks Putin
Ilham Aliev, for his part, thanked Vladimir Putin for “personally following this matter” and welcomed the “positive development” of relations between Moscow and Baku.
The Embraer 190 plane of the Azerbaijani company Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in western Kazakhstan, on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. 38 of the 67 people on board the plane died.
Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan cooled after this tragedy. The authorities of this former Soviet republic in the Caucasus closed the offices of a Russian state media outlet in Azerbaijan and arrested Russians.
Russia had made arrests within the Azerbaijani diaspora. Thursday’s meeting is the first between Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliev since the tragedy.
Source: BFM TV
