Russia is accused by Ilham Aliyev of shooting down the Azerbaijan Airlines plane and attempting to conceal the reason for the jet crash.
Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, has urged Russia to “admit its guilt” for accidentally shooting down an Azerbaijani airplane, which resulted in 38 deaths and 29 injuries.
Before being rerouted to Kazakhstan, where it crashed, the aircraft is believed to have been shot down by Russian air defense systems while attempting to land in Chechnya.
‘The plane was shot down by Russia’ – Aliyev
On its way to Grozny, the capital of the Chechnya region in southern Russia, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432 crashed on December 25 near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan.
“We can say with full clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia. (…) We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done,” Aliyev told Azerbaijani state television.
“The aircraft was hit by ground fire over Russia, and was rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare, which caused it to turn off course before making an emergency landing attempt and crashing,” Aliyev stated.
The Kremlin first claimed that the crash happened when the Embraer 190 aircraft struck a flock of birds, but there was growing evidence that an antiaircraft missile was the real reason.
Aliyev accused Moscow of attempts to “cover up” its role
Aliyev accused Moscow of attempts to “cover up” its role in the tragedy at the beginning. He acknowledged Putin’s apologies but insisted that Russia “must admit its guilt.”.
He described the contradictory statements made by Russian officials as “upsetting and surprising.” “Unfortunately, we only heard delirious versions from Russia for the first three days,” he said.
Russian propaganda shift the blame on Ukraine
As usual, Russian propaganda is trying to shift the blame from Russia to others. And quite traditionally, Ukraine is blamed for all the troubles.
“What happened to the AZAL airplane in Aktau could have been a provocation prepared by Kiev,” military expert Yuri Knutov told RT (Russian propaganda platform).
“Our relations with Azerbaijan have significantly improved.” Of course, the Kiev regime was extremely interested in preventing this. How could this be achieved? The airplane regularly flies in the same direction. It is well known when, at what time it will appear, and what its flight path will be,” the propagandist was quoted by RT as saying.
Knutov also recalled “Ukraine’s provocation in Bucha,” which is how Russia calls the massacre of civilians by Russian troops during the occupation of the Ukrainian town. RT cited Knutov saying that the plane crash “occurred when the Russian Federation had practically agreed with the European Union to expand contacts and reduced everything to zero.” “Such actions of Kiev are 100% terrorism,” RT quoted the propagandist’s false accusation.
- https://t.me/nash_prezident_putin/249591
- https://t.me/rt_russian/225919
Other Russian propaganda outlets followed RT, including Vzglyad (not under Western sanctions). “The crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane near Aktau in Kazakhstan, which was on its way from Baku to Grozny, was caused by the actions of Ukrainian drones,” the media quoted Russian State Duma deputy and first deputy chairman of the Defense Committee Alexei Zhuravlev.
- https://t.me/vzglyadru/108263
In an interview with RT, State Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlev expressed an opinion that “the emergency situation with the plane on the Baku-Grozny flight that crashed near the city of Aktau was provoked by Ukrainian drones. He noted that without their involvement, the plane would have landed safely at its destination.”
The Russian propaganda media write that “Zhuravlev suggested including this incident in the list of war crimes committed by the Kiev regime.” He believes it is important to question not only Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team but also those who supply Ukraine with weapons, including the United States, which authorizes Ukrainian armed forces to strike Russian territory.”
As was the case with the downing of MH14 in the skies over Donbas in July 2014, the Russians refuse to admit their guilt and the involvement of their air defense system in the downing of the passenger plane. In order to shift the media’s focus and shift the blame to others, Moscow is using propaganda, accusing Ukraine and spreading fake versions of the disaster.
In addition, the attack of Ukrainian drones on targets in Russia is a direct consequence of the Russian invasion and Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Putin appologized but didn’t admit Russia’s guilt
Earlier, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin appologized to Aliyev for the “tragic incident” in Russian airspace, claiming that Russian air defenses had engaged Ukrainian attack drones.
A Kremlin statement just stated that a criminal case had been initiated, without claiming that Russia had shot down the aircraft.
Baku had issued formal “demands” to Russia two days prior, according to Aliyev, who requested Moscow to publicly apologize to his nation.
“First, Azerbaijan must receive an apology from the Russian side. Second, it must acknowledge its guilt. Third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility, and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state as well as to the injured passengers and crew members. These are our demands,” he stated, adding that Putin’s apology has already satisfied the first one.
Without providing specifics, the Kremlin reported that Putin and Aliyev had another phone conversation on Sunday. A joint probe into the disaster with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan has already been announced by the Kremlin.
According to BBS, aviation specialists and others think that electronic jamming impacted the plane’s GPS, which was then harmed by shrapnel from Russian air defense missile explosions.
The Russian president admitted that the aircraft had made multiple attempts to land at the airfield in Grozny, Chechnya.
However, according to Putin, at that time, Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were “attacking” the cities of Grozny, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz, and Russian air defense systems were “repelling these attacks.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia must “stop spreading disinformation”, and he also described the damage to the aircraft’s fuselage as “very reminiscent of an air defense missile strike.”
