Azerbaijan demands Russia admit guilt for downing plane, pay compensation

Azerbaijan’s president on Sunday demanded that Russia admit responsibility for the incident that led to the Christmas Day crash of a passenger plane that killed 38 people and pay compensation to the government and affected families.

President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, which departed from Baku on Wednesday morning with 67 passengers and crew members bound for Grozny in Russia, “suffered external damage” in Russian airspace and was rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare. The tail of the Embraer 190, he said in televised remarks, was seriously damaged “as a result of shelling from the ground.”