Azerbaijan accuses Russia of covering up Kazakhstan plane crash and demands compensation

On Sunday, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia of lying and trying to cover up its role in the Kazakhstan plane crash that killed 38 people.

Aliyev's harsh words came just a day after the Azerbaijani president spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had extended his apologies for the crash in Russian airspace but had not taken responsibility for it.

According to Aliyev, the deadly crash was due to Russian electronic interference and gunfire from the ground, which directly contradicts the "foolish and dishonest" explanations of Russian authorities, who attributed the crash to a flock of birds and a gas cylinder explosion.

"This clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, and of course, this is something no one can be proud of," Aliyev stated. He added that Putin's apologies were not enough.

Aliyev posed several conditions to Russia to settle the diplomatic conflict between the two countries.

Firstly, the Azerbaijani president demanded that Russia assume responsibility for the crash, secondly compensation to Azerbaijan and the families of the victims, and, finally, that those guilty of downing the plane be brought to justice.

The fact is that Aliyev's words were far from the cordial diplomacy that has long characterized relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, a country that is watching its influence dwindle more and more in the former Soviet republics while maintaining a costly conflict in Ukraine.

Russia has also wholly severed relations with Armenia, a nation increasingly close to the West, and is watching as people in Georgia take to the streets in protest at what they see as their government's growing proximity to Russia.

These threats mean that Moscow risks losing influence in the South Caucasus.

According to the Wall Street Journal, preliminary results of the Azerbaijani investigation into the crash show that a missile from a Russian air defense system hit the Embraer 190 aircraft.

According to sources quoted by WSJ, Azerbaijan also found that Russian authorities diverted it outside Russian airspace.

Also, President Aliyev said Azerbaijan is still investigating whether Russia intentionally diverted the plane in the hope that the damaged aircraft, which was flying out of control, would simply fall into the Caspian Sea.

The plane eventually crashed in the town of Aktau in western Kazakhstan. Twenty-nine people survived.