‘We witnessed clear makes an attempt to cowl up the matter,’ says Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, who has shut ties to Russia and was educated at considered one of Moscow’s prime universities
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on Sunday, December 29, {that a} passenger aircraft that crashed final week, killing 38 folks, had been broken by capturing from the bottom in Russia, and he stated some in Russia had lied about the reason for the catastrophe.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, December 28, apologized to Aliyev for Wednesday’s, December 25, “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the aircraft after Russian air defenses engaged Ukrainian assault drones. A Kremlin assertion didn’t say Russia had shot down the aircraft, solely noting a legal case had been opened.
“Our aircraft was shot down accidentally,” Aliyev advised state tv on Sunday, including that the aircraft had come underneath some type of digital jamming and had then been shot at whereas it was approaching the southern Russian metropolis of Grozny.
“Sadly, within the first three days we heard solely absurd variations from Russia,” Aliyev stated, citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to birds or the explosion of some type of fuel cylinder.
“We witnessed clear makes an attempt to cowl up the matter,” stated the Azerbaijani chief, who has shut ties to Russia and was educated at considered one of Moscow’s prime universities.
Aliyev stated he wished Russia to simply accept it was responsible of downing the aircraft and punish these liable for fatally damaging the plane.
Putin and Aliyev held one other phone name on Sunday, the Kremlin stated. It gave no particulars however on Saturday it stated that each civilian and army specialists have been being questioned about what had taken place.
Azerbaijan Airways Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday, December 25, in a ball of fireside close to town of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia the place Ukrainian drones have been attacking a number of cities.
The extraordinarily uncommon publicized apology from Putin on Saturday, December 28, is the closest Moscow has come to accepting some blame for the catastrophe.
4 sources with information of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the catastrophe advised Reuters on Thursday, December 26, that Russian air defenses had mistakenly shot it down.
Burials
Aliyev’s remarks got here as Azerbaijan paid tribute to the pilots and passengers of the aircraft.
Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, each ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a flight attendant, got full honors at a ceremony on the Alley of Honour in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his spouse, Mehriban.
The pilots have been lauded in Azerbaijan for touchdown in a means which allowed 29 folks to outlive however led to their very own deaths.
“The pilots have been skilled and knew they’d not survive this crash touchdown,” Aliyev stated, praising them for sacrificing themselves by placing the nostril down first in an try to save lots of a few of the passengers.
“As a way to save the passengers, they acted with nice heroism and because of this there have been survivors,” he stated.
The Embraer passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya area, earlier than veering off tons of of miles throughout the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan’s presidential workplace stated that after the yet-to-be defined incident over Russian airspace, the pilots battled to regulate the aircraft — desperately looking for a touchdown spot.
With holes within the fuselage, some crew injured, passengers praying for his or her lives in a de-pressurized cabin and the aircraft spiralling uncontrolled, the pilots flew throughout the Caspian Sea in the direction of their demise in a crash touchdown.
The Alley of Honour is Azerbaijan’s most sacred fashionable burial floor — the place distinguished politicians, poets and scientists are laid to relaxation, together with Heydar Aliyev, the late father of the present president.
Captain Kshnyakin’s daughter, Anastasia Kshnyakina, stated her father was a devoted pilot who took his obligations to his passengers extraordinarily significantly.
“My father at all times stated: once I take off, I’m accountable not just for my life, but in addition for the lives of all passengers and crew members,” Kshnyakina stated.
“Together with his final flight, he proved what a real hero must be.” – Rappler.com
