BAKU, July 26, 2025 — Official Baku expects Moscow to take responsibility for the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) flight operating on the Baku–Grozny route and to ensure justice is served, according to Hikmet Hajiyev, Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Azerbaijan.
In an interview with the German outlet Berliner Zeitung, Hajiyev said that while no radical shifts have occurred in Azerbaijan-Russia relations, recent months have seen growing misunderstandings and rising tension.
“Such incidents can occur even between neighboring countries. It all began with the crash of the AZAL aircraft, which deeply shocked Azerbaijani society. The incident happened in Russian airspace, on Russian territory, and we know how it happened — that is no longer a secret. As a neighbor and a partner, Azerbaijan expects Moscow to take responsibility and ensure justice in this case,” Hajiyev stated.
The AZAL passenger plane crashed on December 25, 2024, near the Kazakh city of Aktau. Of the 67 people on board, 38 were killed and 29 survived.
Preliminary findings suggest the aircraft went down due to external physical and technical interference while flying over Grozny in Russian airspace.
