An Azerbaijani Embraer 190 passenger plane, en route from Baku to Grozny, crashed on December 25 while attempting an emergency landing in Kazakhstan. Of the 67 people on board, 38 died and numerous others were injured.
The pilots, who later lost their lives in the distater, miraculously saved the plane when - according to reports - it was fired upon and seriously damaged by Russian anti-aircraft defenses. As the pilots noted prior to the crash, Russians refused to allow the damaged plane to land on their soil - and forced it to fly over the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan. The reports also say that the Grozny-based Russian military have been jamming the plane's navigation and communication devices after it was rerouted to distant Aktau.
Some military experts believe that through these deliberate actions the Russians hoped to make the plane crash into the Caspian Sea, which would have made it difficult to prove their shelling of the aircraft. In the following days, Moscow went with its version of events, stating that the plane collided with a flock of birds.
However, after statements from the Kazakh and Azerbaijani sides refusing to accept the Russian version of events, Vladimir Putin spoke out on Saturday. He apologized for - as he put it - the "tragic incident" and mentioned that Ukrainian drones had attacked Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz at the time.
Following the disaster, a number of Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Arab and Israeli airlines suspended flights to Russia. Meanwhile - an Azerbaijani-Kazakh investigation into the incident continues, and Azerbaijan is not likely to be satisfied with just the vague apologies the Russian dictator offered.
Earlier on, Azerbaijani President Aliyev refused to classify the investigation into the crash despite appeals by both the Kremlin and Chechnya-ruling Kadyrov.
"Our civilian plane was shot down on Russian territory, in the skies over Grozny. It is impossible to deny this. Those who did it must be held criminally liable, and compensation must be paid" - Azerbaijan's MP Rasim Musabekov told the local media when the initial findings of the investigation have surfaced.
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Source: IAR, PAP