Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said his country was preparing to file an international lawsuit against neighbouring Russia over the downing of Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crash that killed 38 people on board in December last year.
The plane bound to Chechnya crashed near Kazakhstan’s Aktau city after Russian air defences opened fire against Ukrainian drones. Back then Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for what he described as a “tragic event” but stopped short of taking responsibility for the crash.
Addressing the 3rd Shusha Global Media Forum in Khankendi, Nagorno-Karabakh on July 19, Aliyev said despite seven months having passed since the crash, Russia has not given clear response to Baku. He urged Russian authorities to take responsibility for the crash. “We know what happened, and we can prove it. And we know that Russian officials know what happened. The question is: why do they not do what any neighbor would do? Our requests or demands are absolutely natural - admit that this accident was their fault.”
Aliyev stated that the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General regularly sends letters to the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee over the incident and has thus far only been informed that: “the investigation continues,” describing it as “counterproductive”. Azerbaijan has informed Russia that it will apply to the international judicial system over the incident, Aliyev revealed. Referring to the Malaysian Boeing crash that killed over 200 victims, Aliyev said: “We are ready to wait for ten years. But justice must be achieved.” In early February Azerbaijan released a preliminary official report that the plane crash had been caused by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system.
Aliyev’s remarks on Saturday came after he reiterated Baku’s “unequivocal support” to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in a statement published in media. In his speech in Media Forum in Khankendi, Aliyev also urged Ukraine to “never accept occupation” just like Azerbaijan did.
