As per Azerbaijani media outlet Minval, they have identified three Russian military officers who they believe are responsible for ordering and firing upon the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that subsequently crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.
The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer ERJ 190AR plane (4K-AZ65) bound for Grozny, diverted and crashed in December last year, after being forced to make an emergency landing approach in Aktau of Kazakhstan.
Shortly following the AZAL plane crash, Azerbaijan had blamed Russia for shooting the plane down and urged the Kremlin to take responsibility, punish those involved, and pay reparations to the survivors.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin said he apologised for the ‘tragic incident’, he stopped short of admitting Russia’s involvement in the matter.
The order to shoot down the Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft flying from Baku to Grozny on December 25, 2024, was given by Major General Alexander Tolopilo, who was promoted after the crash, according to the Azerbaijani publication Minval.
Minval reported on Tuesday that it had anonymously received a letter , allegedly written by Russian Captain Dmitry Paladichuk, who reportedly fired the missile that struck the plane, at the command of Major General Aleksandr Tolopilo.
Minval also alleged that a third Russian official, Lt. Colonel Nikolai Orlansky, who said to have received the shoot down orders from Tolopilo and forwarded them to Paladichuk.
Earlier this month, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijan was preparing to take Russia to international court over the plane crash.
As "Caucasian Knot" wrote, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced the preparation of documents to file lawsuits in international courts regarding the crash of the AZAL plane, since Russia did not admit guilt and did not punish those responsible for the deaths.
In response to this development, the press secretary of the Russian president said that Moscow hopes for an improvement in Russian-Azerbaijani relations.
Azerbaijan's threat to sue Russia creates a negative backdrop for bilateral relations, but does not rule out reaching a political compromise in the near future, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.
The names of the Russian military personnel allegedly involved in the AZAL plane crash are mentioned in the "minute-by-minute chronicle" of the plane crash, which was published by the Minval, without naming the exact sources of information.
Minval claimed that the air defence unit that allegedly fired on the plane was in ‘poor technical and organisational condition’, which was why they mistakenly identified the jet as a military target, likely a Ukrainian drone.
Previously, Russian officials said that Grozny, the original destination of the plane, was under attack by Ukrainian drones at the time the plane approached, which resulted in emergency defensive moves from air defence units in the area.
The drone hazard signal was in effect in the North Caucasus Federal District from 3.26 am until midday on December 25. At 08.05 in North Ossetia, the “Carpet” plan was introduced, which required the immediate landing of all aircraft, and 08.12 the commander of the 51st Air Defense Division, Major General Alexander Tolopilo, ordered that this plan be introduced within a 50 km radius of the Grozny (Severny) airfield.
The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 aircraft was descending and approaching the Grozny airport from 08.09 to 08.13 during this period of time. During this period, it was not accompanied by the radar reconnaissance assets of the 51st Air Defense Division: the escort was stable only before 08.09 and after 08.13 (and then until 09.07).
After the Carpet plan was implemented in Chechnya, the commander of the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile system, Captain Dmitry Paladichuk, reported the detection of an aerial target, presumably a UAV.
On the day of the crash, at 13:8, he received the command to destroy the target from Major General Alexander Tolopilo; the division commander’s order was conveyed to the captain by Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Orlyansky. At 13:8:27 and at 13:8:48, Paladichuk fired two anti-aircraft guided missiles at the target.
According to Minval,
“both missiles hit an Embraer 190 civilian aircraft,” but Tolopilo subsequently “gave false testimony that both missiles allegedly self-destructed and could not damage the target.” He also hid information about the inadequate condition of radar reconnaissance equipment from the investigation, which is why the civilian aircraft was mistaken for a UAV. Even if we consider the testimony of Tolopilo and other commanders to be reliable, the decision to strike “an erroneously identified air target was made without taking into account the fact of the sudden loss of radar control over the movement of the Embraer 190,” the publication notes.
After the plane crash, Alexander Tolopilo became deputy commander of the 11th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Eastern Military District.
Also on duty at the time of the missile launch on December 25 were the senior navigator of the combat control group of the 51st Air Defense Division, Captain Dmitry Pudovkin, the operational duty officer of the headquarters of the Southern Military District, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Yanovsky, and the operational duty officer of the command post of the 4th Guards Army of the Air Force, Colonel Gennady Eremenko.
All three, judging by the leaked data, are indeed connected with military service, but they refused to talk to journalists, notes Astra* (they are included in the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice).
Earlier, the publication also verified the data of Captain Paladichuk - in a conversation with journalists, he did not confirm, but also did not deny the data about his role in the incident.
Russian journalists confirmed that Paladichuk's voice was used to record personal audio messages in which he explained to his fellow soldiers what happened - these recordings also ended up in the possession of Minval.
In the recordings, Paladichuk claims that he fired "in a completely different direction" from the plane, but suggests that fragments of missiles sent for destruction "could have hit".
As per the publication, Paladichuk also admits that after the launch of two missiles he was told “that it was our plane” and then he “turned grey”, but later a certain “FSB operative” reassured him: “he says that the plane actually hit some mast during landing, I have nothing to do with it.”
Hokume Aliyeva, the cabin crew member of ill fated Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer aircraft , whose calm, composed cabin handling and comforting words "everything will be fine", lost her life.
But, the other cabin crew Aydan Rahimli, survived the crash with injuries. She says that until the last moment, the cabin crew was trying to control the situation by communicating with each other. She also informed that the pieces of shrapnel had entered the front side of the plane.
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