Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
Moscow, October 9 (Xinhua) — Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in detail about the causes and circumstances of the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane in December 2024 at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday.
The Russian leader recalled that he apologized to I. Aliyev for the tragedy that occurred in the skies over Russia and expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims.
According to Vladimir Putin, the cause of the plane crash was, in part, the presence of a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the sky. On the day of the tragedy, the Russian air defense system was tracking three Ukrainian UAVs that had crossed Russian borders.
Vladimir Putin told Ilham Aliyev that the AZAL airliner was most likely hit not by submunitions, but by missile debris: two missiles fired by the Russian air defense system did not directly hit the plane, but exploded approximately 10 meters away. "That's why the pilot perceived it as a collision with a flock of birds, which he reported to Russian air traffic controllers, and all of this is recorded in the so-called black boxes. He was also offered a landing in Makhachkala, but he decided to return to his home airport and then to Kazakhstan," the Russian president explained.
"It's our duty… to provide an objective assessment of everything that happened and identify the true causes. But this takes time. It will probably take some more time to finally put an end to this," Putin noted.
Russia will do everything necessary to provide compensation in connection with the plane crash, he added.
For his part, Ilham Aliyev expressed gratitude to Vladimir Putin for the information provided. "You are personally overseeing the investigation, and we had no doubt that it would objectively resolve everything. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude once again for considering it necessary to address this issue at our meeting," the Kremlin's official website quotes Ilham Aliyev as saying.
The Russian President emphasized that, despite the tragedy and the circumstances surrounding it, the two countries' mutual interests are close or coincide in many areas.
"Despite this, our interests, our mutual interests in many areas, coincide and are very close. And above all, of course, this concerns trade and economic ties," Vladimir Putin said.
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source. It represents an accurate account of the source's assertions and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.