Azerbaijan president slams Russia for shooting down airplane
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has alleged that the national airline plane that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, criticizing Moscow’s unwillingness to address the issue further.
The Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan, near the city of Aktau. While it may not have been deliberately targeted, the president said that the aircraft sustained damage from Russian territory.
Ilham Aliyev also expressed frustration over conflicting statements from Russian officials. Vladimir Putin quickly apologized to Baku but stopped short of admitting responsibility for the incident. Of the 67 people on board, 38 lost their lives.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed its defense systems, located in Chechnya, had fired to fend off an attack by Ukrainian drones.
"We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia … we are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done," he told Azerbaijani state television."
"Unfortunately, for the first three days we heard nothing from Russia except delirious versions," he lamented.
(QG - The Guardian / Sky News / Picture: © Pixabay)