Hikmat Hajiyev: Baku has received answers from Moscow on downed AZAL plane

Azerbaijan says it has received answers from Russia regarding the AZAL airline plane that was shot down over Grozny in December 2024.

Hikmat Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration said this in an interview with EU Today and a small group of journalists in Brussels.

Hajiyev noted that immediately after the incident there was "some misunderstanding" and "emotions," but Baku"s concerns were discussed at a subsequent meeting between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Russia in Dushanbe.

President Ilham Aliyev and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a one on one meeting in Tajikistan where Putin brought up the "the aviation tragedy that occurred in our airspace". 

"I would like to reiterate all of that and say that, as we agreed, we are certainly providing every possible assistance to the investigation." Putin said.

The pair had earlier met albeit briefly in Beijing during the SCO Summit in September.

Hajiyev added that "Azerbaijan expected official apologies from Russia, a full investigation, holding the responsible parties accountable, and compensation for the downed AZAL plane.

Now we have turned the page on the misunderstanding and will continue normal, good-neighborly relations between the two countries," he added.

The tragic incident occurred when the Embraer 190AR aircraft, carrying 67 people from Baku to Grozny, crashed during an emergency landing attempt, killing 38 passengers and crew. Among those on board were 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyz nationals.

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