Russia’s failure to let the plane land and its refusal to take responsibility for the crash are upsetting a key partner.

The crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane due to Russian air defense systems demonstrates that Russia's war against Ukraine is increasingly affecting innocent people, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Twitter (X).

Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 was en route from Baku to the Russian city of Grozny when it was diverted for reasons yet unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan.

"We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia," President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised statement

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally shooting down an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering<a class="excerpt-read-more" href=" M

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev says the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally.

Aviation experts say that Russian air defense fire was likely responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash the day before that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.

The probe into the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan is examining the conduct of air traffic controllers after the aircraft encountered difficulty, a source said.