Azerbaijan: Russia Must Admit Guilt, Apologize, And Pay

The Washington Post reports:

Azerbaijan demanded Sunday that Russia admit responsibility for the incident that led to the crash of a passenger plane on Christmas Day, killing 38 people, and pay compensation to the government and affected families.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in televised remarks that the national carrier’s plane, which was supposed to land in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya in Russia, on Wednesday morning, “suffered external damage” in Russian airspace and was rendered uncontrollable by means of electronic warfare. The tail of the plane was seriously damaged “as a result of shelling from the ground,” Aliyev said.

“First, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must admit its guilt. Third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility, and the Azerbaijani state, the affected passengers and crew members must be paid compensation,” Aliyev said.

Read the full article.

The fact that the fuselage of the crashed plane was riddled with holes completely ruled out the version of a collision with a flock of birds, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated in an interview with Azerbaijani Television.

📸APA

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— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) December 29, 2024 at 7:31 AM