The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, held within the framework of the "Central Asia – Russia" summit and the CIS Heads of State Council meeting in Dushanbe on October 9-10, began primarily with a discussion about the AZAL plane tragedy that occurred on December 25 last year in Kazakhstan. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
According to RIA, it was Putin who proposed discussing this issue. The Russian president recalled that Azerbaijan had previously officially apologized for the tragedy that occurred in Russian airspace and expressed deep condolences to the relatives of the deceased passengers.
He emphasized that Moscow is providing full assistance to the investigation process and is examining the causes of the incident, particularly the circumstances related to the presence of a Ukrainian drone in the airspace. According to Putin, on the day of the tragedy, three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles crossed the Russian border on board the AZAL plane.
The two missiles launched by the Russian air defense system did not directly hit the plane; the explosions occurred several meters away from the aircraft. The plane was likely damaged by fragments resulting from the explosion.
At the same time, it was noted that the crew had received permission to land in Makhachkala but preferred to return to their own airport. The head of state stressed that the actions of responsible persons will not go unpunished and stated that Russia will carry out the necessary procedures regarding compensation issues.
It was noted that time is needed to fully clarify this situation. For reference, there were a total of 67 people on the AZAL plane, including 5 crew members.
As a result of the tragedy, 38 passengers died, and 29 survived. During the meeting within the summit, the parties once again confirmed their support for a comprehensive, open, and systematic investigation of this incident.
