BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 27. The shooting down of an Azerbaijani civilian plane by Russia, and the reaction of Russian officials to that, created a very big frustration and disappointment in Azerbaijan, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Saudi TV channel Al-Arabiya, Trend reports.
First, this shooting shouldn't have happened in the first place, because when there are drone attacks on Russian airports, they announce a special regime. They call it "carpet" in Russian (“kover”), and all the planes get a signal that there is a drone attack, and they turn back. Two weeks before this crash, the same happened with our plane, which was flying to the same Russian city, and it got the signal, so it turned back. This time they did not give this signal. They gave the signal after the plane was already shot down. They did it in order just to mislead those who would investigate. They shot it twice. O nly the professionalism and courage of the pilots made it possible for the plane to land, and fortunately it landed in Kazakhstan, not in Russia. It landed in Kazakhstan, and there was a crash. Some people survived, and we have those who gave evidence. We have two people who were in the plane who were injured by the shrapnel, which penetrated the fuselage. We have the remains of the plane, and immediately I sent the team. It's not far away. It's only a 40-minute flight. Immediately, our team was there on site, and they filmed everything, so you can find it on the Internet. All the fuselage was full of holes from shrapnel. It was damaged by a Russian air defense system. So shooting down the plane should not have happened in the first place, but it was a tragic mistake.
President Ilham Aliyev noted that i can give you one example again from the Second Karabakh War.
When on the last day of the war, on the ninth of November, by chance, Azerbaijan shot down a Russian helicopter which had approached the Azerbaijani border, where it shouldn't have been in the first place. Because for 30 years, Russian helicopters had never approached the Azerbaijani border from the territory of Armenia. It was coming from Armenia. So for those who shot it down, it was obvious that an Armenian helicopter was penetrating our territory, so they shot it down. Immediately, on the same day, I called the Russian president and apologized. We immediately paid compensation to the families of those who were killed—the pilots—and to the Ministry of Defense. We started an investigation, and those who made that tragic mistake were brought to justice. We haven't seen anything of that sort from the Russian side. So that tragic event on the ninth of November and our behavior made us absolutely ready to expect the same attitude toward Azerbaijan, because the two countries call themselves friends. But that was a big surprise. So until now, they have not said what happened. So this, of course, is a serious, serious situation in our bilateral relations, but we did not want to aggravate these relations. Yes, our people were disappointed, angry, and frustrated. We were waiting for the investigation, thinking that sooner or later it would come to an end. Then these unmotivated attacks on Azerbaijanis in Russia started. Two people were killed and tortured, and then the official information was that they died of a heart attack. Even if they committed a crime 20 years ago, as they say, they are people. They must not be treated like that. What kind of attitude is that? there were Azerbaijani citizens among them, as well as Russian citizens of Azerbaijani origin. That was an unprecedented act against our people. We are not responsible for the deterioration of relations. We only respond in a constructive and legal manner, but we will never tolerate any sign or demonstration of aggression or disrespect towards us,'' President Ilham Aliyev noted.