A plane which crashed killing 38 people on Christmas Day was shot at from the ground as it travelled over Russia, the president of Azerbaijan said.
Ilham Aliyev said today that he regretted that ‘some circles’ in Russia had tried to hush up the truth by sowing false narratives about what caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane to crash.
State television reported that he said the passenger plane, which came down in Kazakhstan, had been damaged by shooting from the ground.
Yesterday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin apologised to Aliyev for the ‘tragic incident’ and acknowledged that Russian air defences had been firing in the vicinity of Grozny in Chechnya at the time the plane passed through the area.
But he stopped short of admitting Russian responsibility for the crash.
It came days before South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster, in which nearly all on board a passenger plane carrying 181 people were killed after a suspected bird strke as it came in to land.
The UK has called for an independent investigation into the downing of the Azerbaijani plane.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: ‘Our thoughts are with all those affected by this incident, including the family and friends of those who have died.
‘President Putin’s statement fails to recognise that the reckless and irresponsible actions of the Russian state pose an acute and direct threat to the interests and national security of other states.
‘We call for a full and independent investigation.’
The plane had been travelling from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny when it was reportedly refused permission to land in Russia.
Some of the 29 passengers and crew who survived said they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.
Aliyev’s office said he had told Putin the crash had been caused by ‘external physical and technical interference’, but did not explicitly blame Russia for the crash.
The Kremlin said Russia had launched a criminal probe into the incident, assisted by ‘relevant services’ from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
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