The Russian Federation will not give an assessment of the plane crash near Aktau until the investigation concludes. At the same time, the Kremlin saw statements from Baku that Russia should apologize for the air defense systems hitting the Azerbaijani airliner. This position was voiced by the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov.
“I repeat once again, I have nothing to add to what I have already said. An investigation is underway into this aviation incident, and until the conclusions are reached, we do not consider ourselves entitled to give any assessments and will not do so. We have our aviation authorities who can do this. We do not consider ourselves entitled to comment on this,” Peskov explained.
Earlier, member of the Committee on International Relations of the Azerbaijani Parliament Rasim Musabekov said that the passenger plane, flying from Baku to Grozny, was shot down by a Russian missile in the skies over Chechnya.
"Those who did this should be held criminally liable, compensation for the deaths and victims should be paid. If this does not happen, then the relationship will certainly move to another level," Musabekov said.
The deputy believes that "someone in Russia is taking certain actions in the media to cover up this."
On December 25, having learned about the Embraer E190AR crash, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev turned back the plane on which he was flying to St. Petersburg for a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. He held a meeting at the Baku airport, where he stated that the causes of the accident were still unknown.
Meanwhile, the Kazakh authorities are refraining from assessing the versions of the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, the investigation is ongoing. According to the country's Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev, Kazakhstan does not have an official version of what happened, and Russia and Azerbaijan have not presented theirs.
It is also reported that blogger Azamat Sarsenbayev, who filmed the crash site of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, was arrested for ten days in Kazakhstan. He himself spoke about this, emphasizing that his photos were used by the world's largest media outlets. The blogger's lawyer, Aibek Suyundukov, said that the arrest was ordered for "disobeying the lawful demand of a government official" (Part 1 of Article 667 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Kazakhstan).
The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 passenger plane, which was flying from Baku to Grozny and crashed on December 25 in the Kazakh city of Aktau, was hit by a missile fired by a Russian air defense system. This interpretation of the events was voiced by Euronews, citing unnamed sources in the Azerbaijani government, and was supported by many publications and bloggers. The fact that the plane was damaged by a Russian air defense system may be indicated by photo and video footage of holes in the skin of its surviving wreckage. Of the 67 people on board, 29 survived.
