【Text by Observers Network, Juan Jiaqi】

On December 25, 2024, a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, flying from Baku, Azerbaijan to Grozny, Russia, crashed near the outskirts of Aktau, a city in western Kazakhstan. The plane had 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board, and the accident resulted in the deaths of 35 passengers and 3 crew members.

Subsequently, Russian President Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Aliyev during a phone call and stated that the crashed passenger plane had been subjected to "physical and technical interference" within Russian airspace. Aliyev emphasized that the crashed plane was accidentally shot down by Russia but that Russia intentionally concealed the issue, demanding that Russia apologize, admit fault, punish the responsible parties, and take compensation. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Half a year later, on July 1st, according to Euronews, the Azerbaijani Russian-language news media "Minval Politika" published an article on Tuesday, stating that it had obtained an anonymous letter containing testimonies, audio clips, and technical details, which indicated that the Russian military ordered the missile launch against the involved flight, leading to the plane crash.

On the 2nd, the head of the investigative department of the Chief Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan said that the Azerbaijani side was verifying the relevant information. He said, "Generally, any information related to the incident spread by the media will be verified and submitted to the investigation department. At the same time, the source and basis of the information will also be investigated. The statements related to this incident will also be verified through the same procedure."

As of the time of writing, the Russian side has not yet responded to the information disclosed by the Azerbaijani media. The Russian embassy in Azerbaijan had previously accused "Minval Politika" of participating in "anti-Russian false information campaigns" in 2023.

Site of the plane crash, CCTV News

The report by "Minval Politika" claimed that the anonymous letter included a handwritten statement signed by Captain Dmitry Sergeyevich Paladichuk, a Russian air defense officer, who mentioned that "he authorized the missile launch under direct orders from the Russian Ministry of Defense."

The report cited the content of the record, saying, "Captain Paladichuk was responsible for the air defense alert in Grozny from December 24 to 25. On the day of the incident, his unit received an order to enter full combat readiness."

The letter also mentioned, "Due to poor mobile signal reception at the post and lack of effective wired communication, command coordination relied heavily on unstable mobile networks."

The report wrote, "At 8:11, the radar detected a suspicious target and tracked it. Although he reported to the command center that the target could not be confirmed with optical equipment due to heavy fog, Paladichuk still received a telephone instruction to destroy the target and then launched two missiles toward the target."

The letter provided detailed coordinates, speed, and direction of the target during the two missile launches and stated, "The first missile did not hit the target, while the second exploded close enough to the target, and the shrapnel hit the plane."

"Minval Politika" stated in its report that it could not verify the authenticity of the record, but because the letter itself was important for the ongoing six-month investigation, it decided to publish it.

Additionally, "Minval Politika" claimed to have reviewed "three voice messages," which were said to corroborate the content of the anonymous letter. The media stated that these recordings confirmed the issuance of the combat order, the launching of the two missiles, and the process of the shrapnel hitting the plane.

According to Euronews, in one of the audio clips released by "Minval," a Russian command can be heard issuing the missile launch order, followed by the sound of the launch. The same voice said, "The target was not hit," and then ordered the launch of the second missile.

Handwritten statement record published by "Minval Politika"

Later that evening, "Minval Politika" claimed in another report that Russian media "Agentstvo" (Агентство), "Astra," and "The Insider" confirmed the authenticity of the anonymous letter. All three Russian media outlets have been listed as "foreign agents" by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

The Azerbaijani media report quoted "Astra" saying that the Russian media contacted Paladichuk directly, and he refused to make an official comment, but did not deny that the statement was written by himself. According to the report, Paladichuk told the Russian media, "I know what is happening between Russia and Azerbaijan now... You know, the war is ongoing, and I usually don't get involved in politics."

"The Insider" also claimed that Paladichuk admitted during an interview with the media that he indeed "fired at the Azerbaijani passenger plane" and, upon request, submitted a statement to his "commander."

At the time when "Minval Politika" published the report, the relationship between Azerbaijan and Russia was once again strained by a series of recent events:

On June 30th, Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies conducted a surprise inspection of the office of the Russian state news agency Rossiya Segodnya in Azerbaijan and detained several Russian journalists. Russia hopes that Azerbaijan will quickly release the detained Russian journalists.

Earlier, on June 27th, Russian authorities arrested six members of a criminal group suspected of involvement in a murder case in Yekaterinburg. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zarakhova stated that the suspects were "Russian citizens originally from Azerbaijan." The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also expressed serious concerns and summoned the acting Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan on the 2nd to express strong protest. On July 1st, the Azerbaijani General Procuracy also announced that it had initiated a criminal investigation into the actions of Russian authorities against Azerbaijani citizens in Yekaterinburg.

Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani parliament announced that it would not participate in the bilateral parliamentary exchange activities scheduled to be held in Moscow. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture announced the cancellation of cultural events such as concerts and exhibitions organized by Russian official and non-official institutions in Azerbaijan. On July 1st, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Azerbaijani Ambassador Musatafayev to Russia to address the situation.

According to TASS on June 1st, the Deputy Head of the Fourth Department for CIS Countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the Russian side noticed some forces actively trying to create rifts in Russian-Azerbaijani relations.

He said at an event hosted by the Gorchakov Foundation: "We see some forces actively trying to split Russian-Azerbaijani relations. They spread insinuating remarks about the incident involving the Azerbaijani passenger plane last December, and one of the consequences was the forced closure of the 'House of Russia' in Baku."

He also mentioned, "Now, some people are accusing Russia of pressuring the Azerbaijani ethnic group in its territory. We are continuously clarifying our principles to our Azerbaijani partners to eliminate damage to bilateral relations. We expect the Azerbaijani leadership to also adhere to this approach."

According to RIA Novosti on June 2nd, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zarakhova also stated that friendly relations between Russia and Azerbaijan are crucial, and those who attempt to disrupt the relations should think twice.

She said, "There are many people who want to benefit from this, but I hope they don't burn themselves. Because I believe that for the people of both countries, friendly relations are indeed crucial, and those who want to undermine this relationship must seriously consider what they are doing."

This article is an exclusive contribution by Observers Network. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522387461420204596/

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