Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that Russian air defences missiles caused the crash of Azerbaijani Airlines passenger jet in December last year. Embraer 190 passenger plane bound from Baku to Chechnya’s capital Gronzyy crashed in Kazakhstain in December 25, killing 38 of the 62 passengers on board.
In a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Putin took responsibility and apologized for what he described as a “tragic incident”. Voicing the Russian version of the incident for the first time, Putin revealed that Russian guided defence systems exploded near the plane while responding to three Ukrainian drones. He added that the jetliner was damaged, “most likely by debris, not by combat elements.”
Putin’s admission marked Russia’s clearest acknowledgment of the responsibility for the deadly crash that served as the deterioration of the countries’ ties.
“It is our duty to give an objective assessment of everything that happened and name the real cause. Of course, everything that is required in such tragic cases will be done by the Russian side, including compensation,” Putin told Aliyev. His remarks mark a departure from his previous rhetoric. On December 28, three days after the crash, the Kremlin reported that Putin had apologized for the “tragic incident”, without taking responsibility.
Aliyev has repeatedly demanded that Russia admits guilt in Azal passenger plane crash and pays compensation. In July, Aliyev revealed that Baku would file an international lawsuit over the plane crash. In strong worded remarks, Aliyev said his country had not received a meaningful response from Russia even though the circumstance around the incident were “as clear as a day”. "The question is: why do they not do what any neighbour would do? Our requests or demands are absolutely natural: Admit that this accident was their fault," Aliyev remarked. The Azerbaijani leader also rejected Moscow’s proposal to hand over the black boxes to the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee, insisting that they be sent to Brazil, where the Embraer 190 was manufactured. In addition, Azerbaijani pro-government media outlets circulated an alleged audio recording from Russia’s Pantsir air defence system that had hit the Azal plane.
The downing of AZAL plane marked the worsening of Baku-Moscow ties and was followed a series of incidents that brought the relations to the historic low. In June, Azerbaijan cancelled all Russian cultural events and closed a Russian cultural center in response to the killing of two Azerbaijani brothers during a police raid in their house. The deterioration of ties has resulted in the crackdown on Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia.
