“Work is underway on the initial versions, but the final conclusions can be made after analyzing the “black boxes”. However, it is already obvious that the plane received external damage in Russian airspace, near Grozny. There is evidence that our plane was subjected to electronic interference, which made it practically uncontrollable. It is also known that the tail section and fuselage were seriously damaged as a result of the shelling from the ground,” the Azerbaijani president said.
The president outlined the following demands: Russia must officially apologize, admit its guilt, hold those responsible accountable, and pay compensation to Azerbaijan, as well as to the injured passengers and crew members. One of the demands has already been met - Russia apologized. We expect the other conditions to be met as well," Aliyev said in an interview with the TV channel. Returning to the beginning, he shared that they had seen attempts by Russia to hide the fact of what had happened.
"We were upset and surprised by the fact that the official structures of Russia put forward versions related to the alleged explosion of an oxygen cylinder. This clearly indicated that the Russian side was trying to hide this isse. Unfortunately, during the first three days we heard only ridiculous versions from Russia," Aliyev shared.
Azerbaijan refused to hand over the investigation to the Interstate Aviation Committee, since it considered the objectivity of their work questionable.
On his instructions, flights to seven Russian cities were suspended for an indefinite period, and flights of Russian airlines to three cities in Azerbaijan were also restricted. This decision was made in the interests of passenger safety.
Photo source: picture from an open source