Sunday 29 December 2025: Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, said that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, as he criticised Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue.
“We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia … We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done,” he told Azerbaijani state television.
Aliyev said that the airliner, which crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday and killed 38 of the 67 on board, was hit by fire from the ground over Russia and “rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.”
Aliyev accused Russia of trying to “hush up” the issue for several days, saying he was “upset and surprised” by versions of events put forward by Russian officials.
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