A summit in Tajikistan turned into a forum for confrontation on Thursday as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev blasted Moscow for attempting to “hush up” a fatal 2024 plane crash, moments after Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted his country’s role in the disaster. The tense exchange exposed the deep rift between the two nations.
Putin, speaking publicly on the matter for the first time, called the incident a “tragedy” and conceded that Russian air defense missiles were involved. His explanation was that the missiles were fired at Ukrainian drones, which then detonated “meters away” from the Azerbaijan Airlines jet, causing it to crash and kill 38 people.
The crash occurred on Christmas Day, 2024, felling a flight bound for Grozny from Baku. For ten months, Russia had remained officially silent on its role, even as Azerbaijani authorities pointed to evidence of a missile strike. The plane went down in Kazakhstan during an attempted emergency landing.
Aliyev’s sharp rebuke, accusing Russia of a cover-up, signaled that Putin’s long-delayed admission was not enough to repair the damage. The controversy over the crash has sent the previously warm relations between Moscow and Baku into a deep freeze, with other diplomatic spats adding to the tension.
In an attempt to control the narrative and offer an olive branch, Putin promised twofold action. He committed to providing financial compensation to the families of the 38 victims and assured Aliyev that the officials responsible for the deadly error would face a legal review.