Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has expressed confidence that Russia is responsible for the crash of the AZAL airline plane on December 25. This was reported by Azertag.
“I can say with certainty that the fault for the deaths of Azerbaijani citizens in this disaster lies with the representatives of the Russian Federation,” Aliyev said.
He emphasized that Azerbaijan demands a transparent investigation, punishment of the perpetrators and fair treatment of the victims and their families.
According to Aliyev, the decryption of the plane’s black boxes is currently underway, and a preliminary picture of the tragedy will be known in the near future. “This will be an important step in the investigation and bringing the perpetrators to justice,” the president said.
On December 25, a plane with 67 people on board crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan. The crash killed 38 people. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly called Aliyev twice after the crash, expressing condolences and apologies for the “tragedy in Russian airspace.”