EGN NEWS DESK
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Monday as soon as once more blamed Russian officers for the airplane crash that killed 38 individuals on Christmas Day and known as for them to be punished.
“I can say with confidence that the blame for the truth that Azerbaijani residents died on this catastrophe lies with the representatives of the Russian Federation,” Aliyev mentioned on Monday at a gathering with members of the family of the crew killed within the airplane crash.
“We demand justice, we demand punishment for these accountable, we demand full transparency and human[e] habits,” the Azerbaijani chief added.
Aliyev’s fierce criticism alerts a rift in beforehand pleasant relations between Moscow and Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, which has not taken sides in Russia’s warfare towards Ukraine. Azerbaijan is one among Moscow’s largest buying and selling companions within the South Caucasus, and the extent of commerce between the 2 nations — notably in fossil fuels — has elevated because the European Union has tried to wean itself off of Russian fuel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the catastrophe in a cellphone name with Aliyev, saying air defenses had been operational within the space on the time of the crash, however stopped wanting accepting duty for the downing.
The apology was one among three calls for Baku product of Russia, the opposite two being an acknowledgment of guilt and compensation to each the state and to victims.
Aliyev once more on Monday accused Russian authorities our bodies of making an attempt to “hush up the incident and defend absurd variations” of how the incident occurred. Russia initially instructed the crash had been attributable to a flock of birds.
Azerbaijan despatched the airliner’s black bins for evaluation to Brazil, the place specialists started analyzing the info Jan. 3.
The civilian airliner had been flying from Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechen Republic on Dec. 25. After passengers reported listening to a blast, the airplane diverted a whole lot of kilometers from its deliberate route and crashed close to town of Aktau in Kazakhstan; 38 individuals died whereas 29 survived.
