Azerbaijan’s president says the plane that crashed was shot down by Russia.

By Nailia Bagirova and Anton Kolodyazhnyy

BAKU/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said last week’s passenger plane was hit by ground-based gunfire in Russia, saying some Russians had lied about the cause of the crash. the danger.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday apologized to Aliyev for the “tragic incident” on board Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, after Russian air defenses attacked Ukraine with drones.

A Kremlin statement said Russia had shot down the plane, citing only that a criminal case had been opened.

“Our plane was accidentally shot down,” Aliyev said in a statement on state television on Sunday, adding that the plane had been hit by electronic jamming and then shot down as it approached the southern Russian city of Grozny.

The pilots who died in the crash were praised in Azerbaijan for saving 29 lives.

“Incidentally, in the first three days we heard from Russia only absurd versions,” Aliyev said, referring to the statements made in Russia.

“We have seen clear attempts to cover up the issue,” said the Azerbaijani leader, who has close ties to Russia and studied at one of Moscow’s top universities.

Aliyev said he wanted Russia to admit it was guilty of downing the plane and punish those responsible.

Putin and Aliyev had another phone call on Sunday, the Kremlin said. He gave no details but said on Saturday that civilian and military specialists were being questioned about the incident.

Head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, told Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General on the phone that Moscow has assigned the investigation to experienced experts and confirmed that steps are being taken to investigate the cause and circumstances of the accident.

The plane crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau last Wednesday after taking off from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones have been attacking several cities, the Kremlin said.

A rare public apology from Putin on Saturday came close to Moscow accepting some of the blame for the disaster.

Four sources familiar with the initial findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the crash told Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses had shot it down by mistake.

Funeral ceremonies

Azerbaijan paid tribute to the plane’s pilots and passengers on Sunday.

Captain Igor Kshyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both Russians of Azerbaijani nationality, and flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva were honored at a ceremony on the Street of Honor in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his wife Mehriban.

“The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing,” Aliyev said, praising them for their self-sacrifice.

“They acted with great bravery to save the passengers and as a result there were survivors,” he said.

Aliyev posthumously awarded the workers with the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan.

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev awarded emergency workers, medical personnel, police and airport workers and a local power plant for helping to rescue survivors.

The Embraer E190 passenger plane had flown from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya province, and crossed hundreds of kilometers across the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijan’s presidential office said the pilots struggled to control the plane – desperate to find a place to land.

With holes in the cockpit, injured crew members, and a distressed cabin, the pilots were able to fly across the Caspian Sea before the crash.

The Avenue of Glory is Azerbaijan’s most sacred modern burial ground – the resting place of famous politicians, poets and scientists, including the father of the current president, Heydar Aliyev.

Anastasia Kshnyakina, daughter of Captain Kshnyakin, her father was a determined pilot who took his responsibility to his passengers seriously.

“My father always says, ‘When I take off, I am responsible not only for my life, but for the lives of all the passengers and crew members,'” said Kshniakhina.

“In his last flight, he proved what a true hero should be.”