After President Ilham Aliyev officially accused Russia responsible for the plane crash in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan's general prosecutor stated that Moscow vowed to punish those responsible for the incident.
"Intensive measures are being carried out to identify the guilty people and bring them to criminal responsibility," the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee told Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani airliner crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people onboard, while it was trying to land near Grozny.
Though Russian authorities have not yet confirmed if it was the air defence missiles that hit the plane leading to the accident, President Vladimir Putin offered an apology to Aliyev over the incident.
On Sunday, Aliyev alleged that the Russian authorities tried to hush up the cause of the crash for days. Though the incident was "unintentional", the plane was shot down by Russia, said Aliyev.
Also read | Azerbaijan president says plane was shot down by Russia, makes three demands to Moscow
"We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia...We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done," he told Azerbaijani state television.
Earlier, the Kremlin in a statement said that while the plane was attempting to land near Grozny, its air defence systems were firing against the drone strike by Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Aliyeh made three demands from Russia, First, the Russian side must apologise to Azerbaijan. Second, it must admit its guilt and third, punish the guilty and pay compensation to the Azerbaijan state, the injured passengers and crew members.
A joint investigation by Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan is ongoing at the crash site to determine the cause of the crash.
