President Aliyev Calls Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Experienced Electronic Disorders And Crashed From Russia

(President Aliyev while chairing the meeting regarding the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines J2-8243. (Wikimedia Commons/Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan)

JAKARTA - President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday said the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed last week had experienced electronic interference and gunfire from land in Russia.

Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 aircraft with flight number J2-8243 and registration 4K-AZ65 carrying 62 passengers and five crew, are on their way from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, Russia when it crashed last Wednesday near Aktau City, Kazakhstan.

The plane is said to have crashed after turning from southern Russia, where Moscow has repeatedly used its air defense system against Ukrainian drone attacks.

"Our plane was shot down accidentally," Aliyev told state television on Sunday, adding the plane had experienced some kind of electronic glitch and was later shot as it approached the southern Russian city of Grozny.

"Unfortunately, in the first three days we only heard an unreasonable version of Russia," President Alyyev said, citing a statement in Russia linking the accident to a bird or an explosion of a kind of gas cylinder.

"We are witnessing clear efforts to cover up the matter," criticized President Aliyev, who has close ties to Russia.

President Aliyev said he wanted Russia to admit it was a mistake for bringing down the plane and punishing those responsible for the fatal damage to the plane.

As previously reported, sources familiar with the results of the preliminary investigation said Russia's air defense system was behind the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane.

One of Azerbaijan's sources familiar with Azerbaijan's investigation into the crash told Reuters preliminary results showed the plane was hit by Russia's Pantsir-S air defense system. Its communication was paralyzed by the electronic warfare system as it approached Grozny, the source said.

"No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, taking into account the facts, Baku hopes that the Russian side will recognize the shooting of the Azerbaijan plane crash," the source said.

Three other sources confirmed Azerbaijan's investigation had come to the same initial conclusion. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment.

Officials did not explain why the plane crossed the sea. Russia's closest airport on the plane's flight path, Makhachkala, closed on Wednesday morning.

Footage recorded by passengers on the plane before falling showed an oxygen mask removed and people wearing life vests. Subsequent footage shows bleeding passengers and bruises getting out of the plane. There were 29 survivors.

Photos of the wreckage show what appears to be damage to the shrapnel in the tail of the plane.

It is known that Ukrainian military drones have repeatedly targeted Russia's southern region in recent months, prompting Russian air defenses. Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Moscow's invasion of neighboring countries in February 2022.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to President Aliyev for Wednesday's "tragic incident" in Russian airspace. Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane, only noting that a criminal case had been opened.

"Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the plane crash and hoped those who were injured would recover soon," the Kremlin press office said in a statement, quoted by TASS.

President Putin and President Aliyev made another phone call on Sunday, the Kremlin said without elaborating.