Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that fell in Kazakhstan was not shot down deliberately while flying over Russia. However, he did confirm that the plane fell after it was damaged by "shooting from the ground."
"The facts are 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 electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control," Aliyev told Azeri state media. The comments come after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev for the incident.
Earlier, Aliyev and Azerbaijan Airlines stated that the plane crash, in which 38 people were killed, was caused by "external physical and technical interference." Meanwhile, American media reports suggested Russia may have shot down the plane believing it was a drone.
