By Nailia Bagirova and Anton Kolodyazhnyy
BAKU/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on Sunday {that a} passenger aircraft that crashed final week, killing 38 folks, had been broken by taking pictures from the bottom in Russia, and he stated some in Russia had lied about the reason for the catastrophe.
President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Aliyev for Wednesday’s “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the aircraft after Russian air defences engaged Ukrainian assault drones. A Kremlin assertion didn’t say Russia had shot down the aircraft, solely noting a felony case had been opened.
“Our plane was shot down by accident,” Aliyev advised state tv on Sunday, including that the aircraft had come below some type of digital jamming and had then been shot at whereas it was approaching the southern Russian metropolis of Grozny.
“Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia,” Aliyev stated, citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to birds or the explosion of some type of gasoline cylinder.
“We witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter,” stated the Azerbaijani chief, who has shut ties to Russia and was educated at certainly one of Moscow’s high universities.
Aliyev stated he needed Russia to just accept it was responsible of downing the aircraft and to punish these chargeable for fatally damaging the plane.
Putin and Aliyev held one other phone name on Sunday, the Kremlin stated. It gave no particulars however on Saturday it stated that each civilian and army specialists have been being questioned about what had taken place.
Azerbaijan Airways Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fireside close to the town of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia the place Ukrainian drones have been attacking a number of cities.
The extraordinarily uncommon publicised apology from Putin on Saturday is the closest Moscow has come to accepting some blame for the catastrophe.
4 sources with information of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the catastrophe advised Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defences had mistakenly shot it down.
BURIALS
Aliyev’s remarks got here as Azerbaijan paid tribute to the pilots and passengers of the aircraft.
Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, each ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and Hokuma Aliyeva, a flight attendant, got full honours at a ceremony on the Alley of Honour in central Baku attended by Aliyev and his spouse, Mehriban.
The pilots have been lauded in Azerbaijan for touchdown in a manner which allowed 29 folks to outlive however led to their very own deaths.
“The pilots were experienced and knew they would not survive this crash landing,” Aliyev stated, praising them for sacrificing themselves by placing the nostril down first in an try to avoid wasting among the passengers.
“In order to save the passengers, they acted with great heroism and as a result of this there were survivors,” he stated.
The Embraer passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya area, earlier than veering off a whole bunch of miles throughout the Caspian Sea.
Azerbaijan’s presidential workplace stated the pilots had battled to regulate the aircraft – desperately looking for a touchdown spot.
With holes within the fuselage, some crew injured, passengers praying for his or her lives in a de-pressurised cabin and the aircraft spiralling uncontrolled, the pilots flew throughout the Caspian Sea in direction of their dying in a crash touchdown.
The Alley of Honour is Azerbaijan’s most sacred trendy burial floor – the place outstanding politicians, poets and scientists are laid to relaxation, together with Heydar Aliyev, father of the present president.
Captain Kshnyakin’s daughter, Anastasia Kshnyakina, stated her father was a devoted pilot who took his duties to his passengers extraordinarily significantly.
“My father always said: when I take off, I am responsible not only for my life, but also for the lives of all passengers and crew members,” Kshnyakina stated.
“With his last flight, he proved what a true hero should be.”
