Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane which crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25 had been shot at from the ground in Russia.

The comments come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliyev for what Moscow described as a "tragic incident" involving the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, killing 38 people. Twenty-nine survived.

What Aliyev said

"The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and almost lost control. We also know that electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control," Aliyev told Azeri state media.

"At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged," Aliyev said.

"Unfortunately, in the first three days we heard only absurd versions from Russia," Aliyev said, citing statements in Russia that attributed the crash to bird strikes or the explosion of some sort of gas cylinder.

"Of course, our plane was hit by accident. Of course, there can be no talk of a deliberate act of terror here," Aliyev said. 

"Therefore, admitting the guilt, apologizing in a timely manner to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this — all these were measures and steps that should have been taken," he said.  

Victims of crash honored

On Sunday Aliyev paid tribute to the pilots and passengers of flight J2-8243 that came down near the city of Aktau.

Captain Igor Kshnyakin and co-pilot Alexander Kalyaninov, both ethnic Russians with Azerbaijan citizenship and flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva, were given full honours at a ceremony in central Baku.

The pilots' actions, which resulted in the aircraft landing in such a way that 29 people survived, have been widely praised.

"Only through the courage and professionalism of the pilots was an emergency landing successfully carried out," Azerbaijan's presidential office said.

kb/wd (Reuters, AFP)