Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has disclosed that a Russian offer to investigate the Embraer 190 crash in Aktau was “categorically refused” over concerns that it would not have been objective.
Although Azerbaijan is a member of the Interstate Aviation Committee, which investigates accidents involving aircraft of state parties, the circumstances of the 25 December crash have generated political tensions between the two governments.
Aliyev told the state broadcaster AzTV that Russian representatives must acknowledge responsibility for the crash, accusing them of “obvious attempts” in the immediate aftermath to ”hush-up” the cause.
“If we had seen fair and reasonable steps by Russia in the immediate aftermath of the accident, we probably would not have objected [to the offer],” he said, according to the transcript published by the president’s official office.
The Interstate Aviation Committee is ICAO-accredited and has led multiple high-profile investigations of civil air transport accidents, but was notably sidelined during a probe into last year’s fatal crash of an Embraer Legacy 600 carrying the leader of a private military organisation.
Suspicion that military activity played a role in the E190 crash has led to concerns over the objectivity of a Russian-led inquiry, and the decision to gather an international team, headed by Kazakhstan, with Russian investigators among the participants.
Aliyev says the initial theories are “quite reasonable”, indicating that the jet was externally damaged near Grozny, its destination, and “almost lost control”.
“We also know that our aircraft was rendered uncontrollable by electronic-warfare means,” he says, while ground-fire “severely damaged” the aircraft’s tail.
He adds that “the fact that the fuselage is riddled with holes”, along with the injuries to occupants and the testimony of survivors, ridicule initial claims of a bird-strike or oxygen cylinder explosion, although he accepts that the crew could have perceived the damage impact as a bird collision.
“Of course, our aircraft was hit by accident,” he adds. “Of course, there can be no question of any deliberate terrorist act.
“Therefore, admitting guilt, apologising in time to Azerbaijan – which is considered a friendly country – and announcing this to the public, all these were measures and steps that had to be taken.
“Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except absurd versions.”
Aliyev praised the E190 crew’s actions, and says analysis of the flight recorders will help answer several key questions, including the timing of the occurrence, and the reasons why the aircraft did not divert to closer airports – such as Mineralnye Vody or Makhachkala – rather than flying a longer distance over the Caspian Sea to Aktau.
“We do not want to express an opinion on unclear issues before they are fully clarified,” he says. “However, on obvious issues, we must, we say and we will say our opinion with full determination.”
Aliyev says the government, on 27 December, “clearly expressed” its demands that Russia apologise, acknowledge responsibility for the crash, punish those involved and compensate the Azerbaijani state, passengers and crew. But he says only the first has been met.
“All these conditions are fair,” he adds. “There are no extraordinary demands or issues here – all of this is based on international experience and normal human conduct.”
