President Vladimir Putin’s admission of fault in a deadly plane crash has raised an even more serious question in Azerbaijan: Was it a cover-up? President Ilham Aliyev is demanding answers that go beyond the simple acknowledgment of a mistake.
Putin confessed on Thursday that Russian missiles targeting Ukrainian drones inadvertently destroyed an Azerbaijan Airlines flight in 2024, killing 38 people. He termed the incident a “tragedy,” framing it as a case of friendly fire.
However, Aliyev immediately countered with an accusation that Russia had tried to “hush up” the affair. This implies a belief that the ten-month delay in admission was not due to a lengthy investigation but to a conscious effort to hide the truth.
This charge of a cover-up adds a criminal dimension to the political fallout. It suggests that officials may have actively suppressed evidence or misled international partners about the events of December 25, 2024.
While Putin has promised compensation and a legal review, Azerbaijan’s focus has now shifted. The demand is not just for acknowledgment of the crash, but for a full accounting of Russia’s actions in the ten months of silence that followed.
