Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated, 'First, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must admit its guilt. Third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility, and the Azerbaijani state, the affected passengers and crew members must be paid compensation.' His comments emphasize the demand for accountability and restitution from Russia following the tragic incident.
President Vladimir Putin expressed to Aliyev that the tragic incident was due to Ukrainian drone attacks that activated Russian air defense systems but he refrained from directly accepting responsibility for the aircraft's downing.
Despite initial Russian explanations suggesting the plane was struck by birds or suffered an oxygen tank explosion, the release of imagery by Kazakh officials showing tail damage cast doubt on these theories, indicating that the incident may have involved external interference.
Azerbaijan accused Russia of failing to maintain airspace security, with the national carrier's plane reportedly experiencing 'external damage' from unexplained events while navigating through Russian airspace.
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