Big Charge By Azerbaijan President Day After Putin’s Apology, Says Plane Shot By Russian Missile

Baku: Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25 was shot at from the ground in Russia.

The comments follow a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev for what Moscow called a "tragic incident" involving the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, killing 38 people. Twenty-nine survived.

"The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and almost lost control. We also know that electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control," Aliyev told Azeri state media.

"At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged," Aliyev added.

Aliyev said, "Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia," citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to bird strikes or the explosion of some sort of gas cylinder.

On Sunday, Aliyev paid tribute to the pilots and passengers of flight J2-8243, which crashed near the city of Aktau.

Captain Igor Kshnyakin, co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship, and flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva were honored at a ceremony in central Baku.

The pilots' actions, which allowed 29 people to survive, have been widely praised for their bravery in handling the emergency.