An Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed, killing 38 people, was damaged while flying over Russia “due to shooting from the ground”, the country’s president has said.
President Ilham Aliyev said he believed that the plane, which crashed around two miles from Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, was not shot down intentionally.
However, he accused some circles in Russia of wanting to cover up the truth about the nature of the crash.
The Embraer 190 passenger jet was en route from Azerbaijan‘s capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus when it changed course.
It crashed in Kazakhstan while making an attempt to land after flying east across the Caspian Sea, killing 38 people and injuring all of the other 29 survivors.
In an interview with Azerbaijani television, Mr Aliyev said the plane was damaged “from the outside” over Russian territory and that “electronic warfare systems” put the plane “out of control”.
“At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged,” he said.
“The fact that the fuselage is riddled with holes indicates that the theory of the plane hitting a flock of birds, which was brought up by someone, is completely removed from the agenda.”
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He added: “Unfortunately, however, some circles in Russia preferred to put forward this theory. Another regrettable and surprising moment for us was that official Russian agencies put forward theories about the explosion of some gas cylinder on board the plane.
“In other words, this clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, which, of course, is unbecoming of anyone.”
He said the plane was hit “by accident” and ruled out a “deliberate act of terror”.
However, he criticised Russian authorities for not taking responsibility for the crash.
“Admitting the 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,” he said.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except for some absurd theories.”
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On Saturday, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” – but stopped short of taking responsibility.
The Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that air defence systems were firing near Grozny because of a Ukrainian drone strike, but stopped short of saying one of these downed the plane.
According to a Kremlin readout of a call, the Russian president apologised to Mr Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace”.
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The White House said early indications suggest the plane could have been brought down by Russia,
Two US military officials told Sky News’ partner network NBC News that America has intelligence indicating Russia may have misidentified the aircraft as a drone and shot it down.
In the days following the crash, Azerbaijan Airlines blamed “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports.
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If proven, the plane crashed after being hit by Russian air defences, it would be the second deadly aviation incident linked to the Kremlin’s conflict with Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian missile according to investigators, killing all 298 people aboard, in 2014.
