Azerbaijan has announced that Russia has pledged to punish those responsible for the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane on December 25, which Baku claims was shot at by Russian air defences. The crash, which occurred as the AZAL Embraer 190 jet was attempting to land in Grozny, Russia, killed 38 people out of 67 on board.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has demanded that Russia take responsibility for the incident. Although Russia has not confirmed that one of its missiles hit the plane, President Vladimir Putin expressed regret over the incident and assured Aliyev that measures would be taken. Azerbaijan’s prosecutor general reported that Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal inquiry into the matter.
The incident has resulted in airlines, including Israel’s El Al, suspending flights to Russia. Survivors of the crash described hearing explosions before the plane diverted to Kazakhstan, where it crash-landed. Kazakhstan has sent the plane’s black boxes to Brazil for analysis.
