The leader of Azerbaijan has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to apologize and admit guilt for the fate of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, which crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day after a failed attempt to fly from Baku to the Russian city of Grozny. The crash killed 38 of 67 people on board. President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday he believed the plane was shot down unintentionally by Russian air defenses. 

President Ilham Aliyev: “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 the use of electronic warfare put our plane out of control. … 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.”

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijan’s leaders for what he called a “tragic incident” but stopped short of accepting responsibility for the crash.