Azerbaijan announces intention to sue Russia over air crash 

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan plans to file a lawsuit against Russia in an international court in connection with the crash of the AZAL plane that occurred on December 25, 2024 near Aktau, Kazakhstan. This was reported by the Azerbaijani state agency APA. Recall that as a result of the disaster, 38 people were killed and 29 were injured.

Earlier, the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan published a  preliminary report on the plane crash, which noted that an external  impact occurred on board the Embraer 190 aircraft flying from Baku to  Grozny at 05:13:31 local time, after which the autopilot shutdown  alarm was triggered. The second external impact was recorded at  05:13:56. The crew reported an explosion near the rear seats and loss  of control of the aircraft. After unsuccessful attempts to land in  Grozny, a decision was made to head to Aktau, where the plane crashed  during an emergency landing attempt.

In this regard, Rosaviatsia stated that the preliminary report on the  investigation of the accident involving the Embraer 190 aircraft of  Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), published by the Ministry of Transport of  the Republic of Kazakhstan, is preliminary in nature and does not  contain any conclusions about the causes of the incident.

According to the report, the commission's work will continue, and the  conclusions about the incident will be presented in the final report.

"At the same time, the preliminary report confirms: there is damage  to the aircraft as a result of external impact. At the same time, the  report does not reflect that the Kazakh side identified foreign  objects in the aircraft, and the Russian Federation has not had such  an opportunity so far, since these elements were not transferred to  it for examination.

It was the crew that chose the alternate airfield for landing,  independently choosing Aktau. The crew did not use the alternative  airports of Makhachkala and Mineralnye Vody proposed by Russian  dispatchers, despite the technical readiness of these airfields to  accept the aircraft.

The message about birds hitting the plane and the explosion of the  oxygen cylinder came from the Embraer crew. It was the AZAL pilots  who transmitted this information to Russian dispatchers," the  Rosaviatsia report emphasizes.

Azerbaijan continues to baselessly accuse the Russian side of the  tragedy. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that  responsibility for the tragedy lies with representatives of the  Russian Federation, and demanded that Moscow admit guilt and punish  those responsible.

It is noteworthy that after the publication of Kazakhstan's  preliminary report on the causes of the air crash, Azerbaijani media  reported that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev allocated $1 million  to the country's Ministry of Energy to provide humanitarian aid to  Ukraine.

According to a message published on the website of the President of  the Republic of Azerbaijan, the funds are intended for the purchase  and shipment of electrical equipment produced in Azerbaijan to  Ukraine as humanitarian aid.