AZERBAIJAN President Ilham Aliyev confirmed that the passenger plane that crashed and killed 38 people was shot down by Russia.
Aliyev made the forceful public statement after a phone call with Vladimir Putin in which the tyrant apologized for the disaster.
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He confirmed that the plane had been jammed by electronic warfare weapons before the Russians shot at it.
Aliyev was furious because he wanted Russia to accept that it was guilty of shooting down the plane and punish those responsible for fatally damaging the plane.
Speaking on state television, he said: “Unfortunately, in the first three days we only heard absurd versions from Russia.
“We witnessed clear attempts to cover up the matter.”
However, he said he accepts the plane was shot down in an “accident”.
Kazakhstan Airways flight J2-8243 crashed on Christmas Day in a fireball near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The plane was flying from Baku to the Russian city of Grozny when it was hit by an air defense missile.
The hero pilots managed to keep the disabled plane flying over the Caspian Sea, where it then took a fatal fall and crashed.
The crew has been praised in Azerbaijan for landing in a way that allowed 29 people to survive but caused their own deaths.
Putin has been trying to keep Kazakhstan within Russia’s sphere of influence, and the plane disaster and cover-up will drive a wedge between the two former Soviet states.
Russia will continue shooting down planes in the West, says expert
It comes after an embarrassed Putin quietly apologized for the accident in a call with Aliyev.
But despite apologizing, Vlad continued to avoid taking responsibility for the disaster.
Instead, it simply regretted what happened in its airspace.
He described the crash as a “tragic incident” but admitted that Russian air defenses were active at the time of the plane’s approach.
The 72-year-old insisted his troops were repelling Ukrainian drones attacking the Russian region of Chechnya.
And the Kremlin confirmed that it has launched its own criminal investigation into the accident.
The plane is believed to have been shot down by a newly installed Pantsir-S air defense system after it was mistaken for a drone.
Instead, Russia had attempted to attribute the accident to a “bird strike.”
The crash is a chilling echo of the MH17 disaster, in which Russian-backed rebel forces shot down a Boeing 777, killing 298 people.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Putin for spreading “disinformation” about the accident.
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He said: “We observed the heroism of the pilots and the entire plane crew.
“The top priority now is a thorough investigation that answers all questions about what really happened.
“Russia must give clear explanations and stop spreading disinformation.
“The photos and videos clearly show damage to the aircraft’s fuselage, including holes and dents strongly reminiscent of an air defense missile attack.”
In a statement about the phone call, the Kremlin said: “A detailed discussion was held regarding the crash of an Azerbaijan Airways passenger plane on December 25 near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
“Vladimir Putin expressed his apologies for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”
Investigators from all the countries involved have arrived at the crash site as they try to reconstruct the last minutes of the plane.
They found the black box from the doomed flight that revealed the haunting final words the pilot said moments before the plane crashed into the ground.
As he struggled to control the plane, one of the pilots said: “I can’t execute, I’ve lost control!”
The pilots tried to take the plane to three different airports but were unable to land.
They lost communication with the ground crew before disappearing from radar for 37 minutes.
Footage emerged showing terrified passengers making final video calls and leaving messages as the plane began to sink.
Distraught people on board can be seen jumping from their seats as they try to make sense of the situation.
As oxygen masks hung in the air, some passengers began screaming in horror, while others called their loved ones and began praying.
Miracle survivors reveal plane’s final moments
By James Halpin
SURVIVORS of the Christmas Day plane crash have revealed from their hospital beds the final moments of the doomed plane shot down by Russia.
Passengers on Azerbaijan Airways Flight 8432 said they heard loud bangs as the plane landed in Chechnya.
The nightmarish journey killed 38 people on board, but only after noises caused travelers to fear the plane could “fall apart” in mid-air and the plane flee Russia.
Survivor Vafa Shabanova said: “About 20 or 30 minutes after takeoff, we felt two explosions.
“The plane was supposed to land, but it didn’t. Something exploded inside him twice.”
From his hospital bed, passenger Subhonkul Rakhimov said: “When the first explosion occurred, I looked (around me), quickly assessed the situation and thought the plane was going to fall apart.
“A couple more seconds passed, but it didn’t collapse.”
“The flight attendants immediately entered the cabin (and started telling passengers): ‘What are you doing? Do not get up under any circumstances, everyone quickly return to your seats, everyone sit down, everyone calm down, everything is fine. , everything will stabilize’.”
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