Azerbaijan clearly expressed its demands to Russia after the AZAL plane crash near Aktau, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijan Television.
"What do these demands consist of? First of all, the Russian side must apologize to Azerbaijan. Secondly, it must acknowledge its guilt. Thirdly, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility, and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state, to the injured passengers and crew members," Ilham Aliyev said.
According to him, the final version will become clear after the black boxes have been examined.
"After the flight recorders have been opened and we have obtained more detailed information, the full picture of what happened will be revealed and many questions that still remain outstanding today will be clarified. For example, why couldn’t the plane land in Grozny? To what extent did the means of radio-electronic warfare affect the plane’s controls? What was the extent of consequences of the strike and the explosion in the vicinity of the plane?" Ilham Aliyev said.
At the same time, he noted that the initial theories are also quite reasonable and are based on facts.
"The facts indicate that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and almost lost control. We also know that means of electronic warfare put our plane out of control. This was the first impact on the plane," Ilham Aliyev said.
