Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev voiced dissatisfaction on Monday over Moscow’s response to the Dec. 25 plane crash that killed 38 people.
During a meeting with two surviving flight attendants and relatives of the crew members who died in the crash, Aliyev said Moscow has been trying to “hush up this incident,” causing “surprise, regret and rightful indignation” in Azerbaijan.
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Aliyev was adamant on Monday that “representatives of the Russian Federation” are to blame for the incident and demanded an adequate response.
“I can say with confidence that the blame for the fact that Azerbaijani citizens died in this disaster lies with representatives of the Russian Federation.
“We demand justice, we demand the punishment of the guilty, we demand complete transparency and decent behavior,” Aliyev said in televised comments in Russian, a move interpreted by analysts to be a sign of respect to the Russian-speaking victims and a direct message to Moscow, according to the New York Times (NYT).
What happened?
On Dec. 25, the Azerbaijan Airlines jet Embraer 190, while en route from Baku to the Chechen city of Grozny in southern Russia, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau after going off course for undetermined reasons, killing 38 of the 67 people onboard.
Investigations by Azerbaijani and US officials said a Russian surface-to-air missile downed the jet. Aliyev demanded apologies from Moscow, with Russian President Vladimir Putin apologizing on Dec. 28, without claiming responsibility for the incident.
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Aliyev said during the phone call that there were “multiple holes in the aircraft’s fuselage, injuries sustained by passengers and crew due to foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight, and testimonies from surviving flight attendants and passengers confirm evidence of external physical and technical interference” – all signs that the aircraft had been struck by a missile.
Kazakh authorities have sent the plane’s black box to Brazil, where the aircraft manufacturer was based, to “ensure a fair and unbiased investigation.”
What did Putin say?
During his phone call with Aliyev, Putin simply said there was fighting in the area without claiming responsibility for downing the jet.
“During this time, Grozny, (the town of) Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defense was repelling these attacks,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.
The transcript added that: “Vladimir Putin had presented his apologies that the tragic incident happened in Russia’s air space and again expressed his deep and genuine condolences to the families of the dead, wishing a quick recovery to those affected.”
How are others interpreting the incident?
With available evidence pointing towards the plane having been downed by Russian air defense and Moscow having yet to claim responsibility, the head of a Baku-affiliated think tank called Moscow’s response to the plane crash a display of “imperial arrogance.”
Farid Shafiyev, the chairman of the government-funded Center for Analysis of International Relations in Baku, told the NYT that Moscow’s response is a sign that it “still looks down on all these former Soviet countries,” with Azerbaijan having gained independence from the USSR in 1991.
While Aliyev previously announced that Russia is expected to compensate the victims’ families, Joshgun Nesibli, the brother of one of the flight attendants on the plane, told the NYT he wants the Kremlin to “apologize to the people.”
“Why do I need compensation from Russia? I need them to apologize to the people, although this will not bring back our sister,” Nesibli told the NYT.
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