Aliyev Demands Russia to Punish Those Responsible for Downing Plane

6 January, 2025 President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Photo: Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called on the government of the Russian Federation to punish those responsible for the downing of the Azerbaijani civilian plane.

He made the statement during a meeting with the family members of the dead crew members. According to Aliyev, the entire responsibility for the disaster lies with the representatives of Russia. "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.

We demand justice, we demand punishment for the perpetrators, we demand full transparency and human treatment," the president said.

Downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane. Photo by Azamat Sarsenbayev

Aliyev also noted that the investigation of the crash was ongoing, and the decryption of the black box should've been completed soon, which would make it possible to find out the preliminary results of the incident over the territory of the Russian Federation. According to him, this will also help to identify those responsible for the tragedy and punish them, provided that the Russian side is open to cooperation in the joint investigation.

The tragedy with the Embraer ERJ-190 aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines, which was operating a Baku-Grozny flight, occurred on December 25, 2024, when the crew declared an emergency at about 11:20 p.m. local time. According to preliminary data, the cause of the accident was a collision with birds, which damaged the control system. Later, Euronews reported that a preliminary investigation confirmed that the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane in Aktau had been caused by a Russian missile fired by the Pantsir-S1 air defense missile-gun system. The missile was fired at flight 8432, en route Baku - Grozny, while repelling a drone attack in the skies over Grozny.

The fragments of the missile fired at the plane hit its passengers and crew. According to the data, the aircraft's GPS navigation systems were suppressed along the entire flight path over the sea, probably due to the electronic warfare systems in operation. This is the reason why the plane disappeared from radar in Russian airspace.

The version that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile explains the numerous small damage to the fuselage, similar to the impact of a missile.

It also explains the holes in the interior of the cabin and the penetrating wounds of the passengers before the crash.

The Russian media published photos of the expended 57E6E anti-aircraft missile boosters of the Pantsir-S1 system after repelling a drone attack in the Chechen Republic on December 25, 2024.