Aliyev: Azerbaijan Airlines Plane Shot Down by Russia

An Azerbaijan Airlines plane en route from Baku to Grozny on December 25, 2024, was shot down by Russia.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated this during an interview.

According to him, the final conclusions will be known after the analysis of the black boxes. At the same time, initial data indicate that the plane was subjected to “external influence” on the territory of Russia.

The President clarified that the plane had been first disoriented by electronic warfare. At the same time, the tail section of the aircraft was seriously damaged as a result of ground fire.

“The pilots demonstrated professionalism and heroism by managing the out-of-control aircraft in various ways. Although, of course, the pilots were experienced pilots and knew that they would not be able to survive this emergency landing. Nevertheless, they showed maximum heroism to save the passengers, and thanks to this, there are survivors of the plane crash. It is thanks to this that part of the fuselage did not burn, and it is thanks to this that today we can clearly say that the plane was shot down by Russia. This is a fact, and no one can deny this fact,” Ilham Aliyev said.

The President added that, according to preliminary data, the downing of the plane had been an accident and had not been a deliberate terrorist act. However, Russia must admit its guilt, publicly apologize to Azerbaijan and provide a truthful explanation. However, in the first three days after the tragedy, the Russian side put forward only absurd versions of the incident.

In this regard, Azerbaijan refused the proposal to transfer the investigation to the Interstate Aviation Committee, as this organization is mostly composed of Russian officials. Instead, Azerbaijan insisted on establishing an international working group. This commission included representatives of the aircraft manufacturer Embraer, relevant Brazilian institutions, as well as the representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The main tasks of the commission are to establish the circumstances of the shooting of the plane, the reasons for its destination to Aktau, and not to the nearest airports, such as Minvody or Makhachkala, as well as to find out whether this decision was objective.

Ilham Aliyev also noted that Russian airspace over certain cities was periodically closed for security reasons. However, according to the available information, in Grozny, the airspace was closed only after the plane was subjected to “external influence”.

An Embraer ERJ-190 aircraft of Azerbaijan Airlines flying from Baku to Grozny declared an emergency at around 11:20 a.m. local time. According to preliminary data, the cause, as announced on the air, was a collision with birds, which led to damage to the control system.

The damaged plane was not allowed to land at any Russian airports, despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea to Aktau in Kazakhstan.

According to the data, the aircraft’s GPS navigation systems were suppressed along the entire flight path over the sea, probably due to the electronic warfare systems in operation. It was due to this circumstance that the plane disappeared from radar in Russian airspace.

The Russian media published photos of the expended 57E6E anti-aircraft missile boosters of the Pantsir-S1 system after repelling a drone attack in the Chechen Republic. The publication of these photos confirms that these systems were active in the region at the time of the Flight 8432 downing.