Azerbaijan’s president accuses Russia of downing airliner in Christmas Day crash and covering up cause

(CNN) — Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally shooting down an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering up the cause.

“We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia. This is a fact,” Aliyev said in a televised interview, according to a transcript posted on Azerbaijan’s presidential website.

“No one can deny this fact,” Aliyev continued. “Again, we are not saying that this was done intentionally, but it was done.”

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane was traveling to Grozny in Chechnya before it made an emergency landing near Aktau, Kazakhstan, the airline said on Wednesday.

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency first said the plane crashed after colliding with birds, though it later said Ukrainian combat drones and dense fog forced the plane out of Russian airspace.

Perforations in the plane’s body that look similar to damage from shrapnel or debris led many to believe the plane was shot down by Russian air defense units, including a US official who told CNN that signs pointed to a Russian system striking the plane.

“The fact that the fuselage is riddled with holes indicates that the theory of the plane hitting a flock of birds… is completely removed from the agenda,” Aliyev said in Sunday’s interview.

“It is possible that when the plane was damaged, when it was hit, the pilot could have perceived it as a collision with birds. Because it would probably never have occurred to anyone that our plane might be fired at from the ground while flying over a country friendly to us,” he continued.

The Azerbaijani president said the plane was damaged over Russian territory, adding that “means of electronic warfare put our plane out of control.”

“At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged,” Aliyev continued.

A Russian dispatcher said shortly before the crash that an oxygen tank exploded in the plane’s cabin, Kazakhstan’s Transport Minister Marat Karabayev said on Thursday.

Aliyev said this was “another regrettable and surprising moment” that “clearly showed that the Russian side wanted to cover up the issue, which, of course, is unbecoming of anyone.”

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin “apologized for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace” in a phone call with Aliyev, adding that Russian air defenses were active at the time but stopped short of admitting fault.

Russian state media TASS reported that Putin and Aliyev had another call on Sunday, but did not offer any more information on the conversation.

Aliyev said Sunday that instead of making up theories about the reason for the crash, Russia should instead take the blame and apologize fully.

He also said that Russia suggested that the Interstate Aviation Committee investigate the disaster, but Azerbaijan “categorically refused” because “it is no secret that this organization consists mostly of Russian officials and is headed by Russian citizens.”

“If we had seen fair and reasonable steps by Russia in the immediate aftermath of the accident, we probably would not have objected. But we saw that attempts to cover up the case were quite obvious,” Aliyev said.

“Of course, our plane was hit by accident… there can be no talk of a deliberate act of terror here,” he said.

“Therefore, admitting guilt, apologizing in a timely manner to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this – these were measures and steps that should have been taken,” he continued.

“Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except for some absurd theories,” Aliyev said.

On Monday, Azerbaijan state media AZERTAC reported that Russia’s Investigative Committee Chairman Aleksandr Bastrykin pledged there would be a “full and objective investigation of the crash.” Russia also promised to identify those responsible for the disaster and hold them to account, AZERTAC said.

The aircraft that went down was a Brazilian-made Embraer 190.

Kazakhstan state news agency Kazinform said Monday that the flight recorders have been sent to Brazil, where international experts will be joined by their Azerbaijani counterparts to analyze the devices in a move to ensure transparency and credibility.

This story has been updated.

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CNN’s Darya Tarasova, Aruzhan Zeinulla, Hassan Tayir, Kosta Gak, Oren Liebermann and Stephanie Halasz contributed to this report.