Russia pledged to identify those responsible for the plane crash and punish them
Azerbaijani Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev said in a statement that the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, assured him that “intensive measures will be taken to identify the guilty and hold them criminally responsible.”
The Public Prosecution also clarified in a statement that Moscow, which has not yet confirmed that the plane was hit by its air defense fire, promised to “conduct a complete, comprehensive and objective investigation” into the incident, independent of the investigations taking place in Kazakhstan, where the plane crashed.
Plane crash
But the Public Prosecution indicated that Moscow provided “the necessary support to the plaintiffs who were sent to Grozny,” the capital of Chechnya, where the plane attempted to land twice before crashing in Aktau, western Kazakhstan, on the eastern bank of the Caspian Sea.
Investigations are also being conducted at the accident site “with the participation of professional investigators and experts from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Brazil,” the country that manufactures Embraer aircraft, the model of the plane that crashed.
Ilham Aliyev announced on Sunday that the plane was hit by “bullets” from Russia, and accused Moscow of seeking to hide the causes of the disaster, demanding official apologies and compensation.
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart on Saturday, acknowledging that the air defenses were active when the accident occurred, but without acknowledging that the plane was mistakenly hit by a missile launched by the Russian army.
He also revealed that the region was being attacked by Ukrainian drones at that time.
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