Azerbaijan accuses Russia of trying to hide the causes of the plane crash. President Ilham Aliyev stated that Vladimir Putin’s government must apologize to the Azerbaijani people, admit its guilt and punish the guilty.
The president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, stated this Sunday, December 29, that he has demanded that Russia acknowledge its guilt for the accident of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane that crashed last Wednesday, December 25, in Kazakhstan, causing the death of 39. of its 67 occupants.
“We clearly expressed our demands to the Russian side, they were officially transmitted on December 27,” the head of state said in an interview with state television. AzTV.
He explained that, first of all, Russia must apologize to Azerbaijan; secondly, admit your guilt and lastly, the guilty must be punishedand the damages to the Azerbaijani State and the victims, compensated.
President Aliyev indicated that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had been hit by “shots” coming from Russian territory and accused Moscow of wanting to hide the causes of the tragedy.
Since Wednesday, when the plane crashed after failing to land in Grozny, southern Russia, suspicions grew that a shot from the Russian anti-aircraft force hit the aircraft.
According to a Kremlin statement, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday the 28th to Ilham Aliyev for the “tragic accident” that left 38 dead. However, he did not allude to the possibility that the Russian anti-aircraft defense system had hit the device, a hypothesis pointed out by experts from the United States and other Western countries.
Funeral with honors
On Sunday morning, Azerbaijan paid tribute to the pilots and passengers of the plane. Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijani citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a stewardess, received full honors at a ceremony held in the Alley of Honor in central Baku, attended by Aliyev and his wife, Mehriban.
The pilots have been praised in Azerbaijan for landing in a way that allowed 29 people to survive but caused their own deaths. “Only thanks to the courage and professionalism of the pilots could an emergency landing be carried out successfully,” Azerbaijan’s presidential office said.
Captain Kshnyakin’s daughter, Anastasia Kshnyakina, said her father was a dedicated pilot who took his responsibilities to his passengers very seriously. “My father always said: When I take off, I am responsible not only for my life, but also for the lives of all the passengers and crew members,” Kshnyakina said. “With his last flight, he showed what a true hero should be.”
With information from EFE and D.W.
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