Vladimir Putin has admitted Russia’s air defences had been chargeable for taking pictures down an Azerbaijani passenger jet in December, killing 38 individuals.
The Russian president stated missiles fired by Russian air defences to focus on a Ukrainian drone detonated close to the Azerbaijani Airways aircraft, which was flying from Baku, because it ready to land in Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Christmas day final yr.
“The two missiles that were launched did not hit the plane directly; if that had happened, it would have crashed on the spot, but they exploded, perhaps as a self-destruction measure, a few metres away, about 10m,” Mr Putin stated.
“And so the damage was caused, mainly not by the warheads, but most likely by the debris from the missiles themselves. That is why the pilot perceived it as a collision with a flock of birds, which he reported to Russian air traffic controllers, and all this is recorded in the so-called ‘black boxes’.”
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Video reveals inside aircraft earlier than crash
Talking at a gathering with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, Mr Putin pledged to punish these accountable and compensate the victims.
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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev shakes fingers with Mr Putin. Pic: Sputnik/AP
“It is our duty,” he stated, “to give an objective assessment of everything that happened and to identify the true causes.”
Mr Putin warned it could “probably take some more time” to totally examine the reason for the crash.
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The aftermath of the crash. Pic: AP
Azerbaijani authorities had stated the jet was by accident hit by hearth from Russian air defences.
It then tried to land in western Kazakhstan, the place it crashed, killing 38 of the 67 individuals on board.
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Pic: Reuters
Days later, Mr Putin apologised to Mr Aliyev for what he referred to as a “tragic accident”, however stopped in need of taking accountability.
Mr Aliyev criticised Moscow for making an attempt to “hush up” the incident.
However on Thursday, he thanked Mr Putin for personally monitoring the progress of the investigation.
“I would like to express my gratitude once again for the fact that you deemed it necessary to highlight this issue at our meeting,” Mr Aliyev informed Mr Putin.
It’s the second lethal aviation incident linked to the Kremlin’s battle in Ukraine, after Malaysia Airways Flight 17 was shot down by a Russian missile in 2014, killing all 298 individuals aboard.
