Banu: Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev on Saturday alleged the plane that was crashed in Kazakhstan, leading to deaths of 38 people on board, was shot at by Russia, even as unintentionally. He also accused Moscow of trying to hide the reason behind the incident.
His statement came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised for the incident, calling it a ‘tragic incident’. After the incident a number of flights were cancelled in the region. The incident had also raises suspicions with some western experts as well as the US observing that Russia’s anti-aircraft missile might be behind the incident.
Plane was damaged over Russian territory: Aliyev
“The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and almost lost control. We also know that electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control,” news agency AFP quoted Aliyev as saying.He added, “Admitting guilt, apologising in a timely manner to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this –- all these were measures and steps that should have been taken.”
Earlier on Saturday Kremlin issued a statement, saying, ““(President) Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.”
Azerbaijan plane crash
Earlier on Wednesday, An Azerbaijan Airlines plane identified as Flight J2-8243 crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. Soon after the incident, ball of fire was seen in southern part of Russia, where Ukrainian drones had been attacking several cities.
