Azerbaijan’s head of state Ilham Aliyev has announced that documents are being prepared with the aim of filing a case against Russia in international courts, Minval reports. The claims are connected to the crash Azerbaijani Airlines Flight 8243, which went down in Aktau, Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024 after being struck by Russian air defenses while attempting to land at its intended destination of Grozny. Aliyev stated that the circumstances of the incident are “as clear as day.”
As Aliyev pointed out, the Azerbaijani side has not received a clear response from the Russian authorities. Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General has been submitting official enquiries to the Russian Investigative Committee, but the agency continues to cite an “ongoing investigation” as the reason why further information cannot be released. Aliyev characterized the Russian side’s approach as “lacking constructiveness.”
He also drew parallels to the probe into the crash of Flight MH17, which was shot down by Russian Buk anti-aircraft system No. 332 over “separatist-controlled” eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Despite the publicity around that earlier case, official accusations from European courts against Russian officials have been slow in coming. Aliyev noted:
“We are ready to wait ten years if necessary, but justice must prevail. We are currently preparing a case file to submit to international judicial bodies regarding this matter.”
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