Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev Blames Russia For The Azerbaijan Airlines Crash

Just 5 days ago, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 going from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, Russia crashed into Aktau, Kazakhstan while trying to land. The plane requested to land at an airport in Aktau after they announced that the plane was damaged. Video footage showed the plane burst into flames after failing to land on the runway. 

The disaster killed 38 people and left 29 survivors. President Ilham Aliyev said that the pilot showed an immense example of heroism by managing the damaged plane to fly over the Caspian Sea and crash-land in the safest way he could. He added that his smart decision is what helped those 29 to survive. “The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing.” said Aliyev, praising the captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov for their sacrifice. Azerbaijan dedicated some days of mourning for the lost ones and awarded the crew with “The National Heroes of Azerbaijan”.   

Initially, Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia reported that the plane crashed after a bird strike and had to change course because of the effect of fog. They also added that Ukrainian drones could have been a factor. However, other sources reported that the weather was clear and the plane had not made a bird strike call. Suspicions rose over Russia’s statement after more reports and video footage showed the plane in flames and clear weather at the time of the crash.  

As more sources surfaced and Azerbaijan and other countries started investigating, it was revealed that the plane was “mistakenly shot down” by Russia’s air defence system after it experienced some kind of electronic jam that caused the mistake. Although some American sources accused Russia of shooting the plane down on purpose, there has been no clear evidence to support this claim. It is more likely that the jamming caused an error on the air defence system which led to Russia firing, which is what Azerbaijan acknowledges as well.

Even though at first Azerbaijan backed up Russia, president Aliyev now blames Russia for the incident. It is important to note that president Aliyev is close with Putin and Azerbaijan has been a big ally of Russia during his rule. Though later, Aliyev said that they “witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter” by Russia, blaming them for trying to pin guilt on Ukraine and for the disaster overall. He demanded a public apology and wanted Russia to admit that they were guilty and punish those responsible for the shooting.

Photo: Milliyet News

Russian president Vladamir Putin made a very rare public apology on Saturday. The Kremlin reported that Aliyev and Putin had made a phone call to talk about the incident. Officials from Baku and Moscow have been in communication as well. However, Russia did not accept the blame for the incident and reported it as a “mistake”. The public apology by Putin and his condolences to the families of the deceased are the closest things we have got to an acceptance of guilt.

Tension seemed to be eliminated after Putin’s apology, though Aliyev still demands them to accept their mistake. We will keep you updated on the future of Russia and Azerbaijan’s relations.

Source: Reuters

Author: Defne Doğan