Azerbaijani Anger Over Plane Crash Grows, in Deepening Schism With Russia

President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan on Monday excoriated Russia for trying to duck responsibility in the downing of an Azerbaijani passenger jet last month, doubling down on a rare confrontation with the Kremlin that has highlighted Russia’s loss of influence in much of the former Soviet Union.

Meeting with the two surviving flight attendants and with relatives of the crew members who died in the crash, Mr. Aliyev said Russian efforts “to hush up this incident” caused “surprise, regret and rightful indignation” in Azerbaijan.

The preliminary investigation into the Dec. 25 crash that killed 38 people made it clear, he said, that had the Russian military and civilian authorities coordinated properly, “this tragedy could have been prevented.” He reiterated his assertion, which has been backed up by footage from the scene and Western assessments, that the plane crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses.

“I can say with confidence that the blame for the fact that Azerbaijani citizens died in this disaster lies with representatives of the Russian Federation,” Mr. Aliyev said. “We demand justice, we demand the punishment of the guilty, we demand complete transparency and decent behavior.”

In a departure from protocol, Mr. Aliyev made those televised comments in Russian, rather than in Azerbaijani; analysts described that decision as both a nod of respect to the Russian-speaking relatives of the deceased pilots, as well as a sign that Mr. Aliyev wanted to be heard in Moscow.

While President Vladimir V. Putin apologized to Mr. Aliyev on Dec. 28 for “the tragic incident” that “took place in Russian airspace,” he stopped short of accepting Russian responsibility for it.

In the aftermath of the crash, pro-government voices in Azerbaijan unleashed rare and withering criticism of Russia, despite the close relationship between Mr. Aliyev and Mr. Putin, two authoritarian leaders who had increasingly found common ground in confronting the West.

Farid Shafiyev, the chairman of the government-funded Center for Analysis of International Relations in Baku, Azerbaijan, said in a phone interview that Russia’s “imperial arrogance” was on display in its obfuscation of the circumstances of the crash.

Referring to Russia’s failure to acknowledge its culpability, Mr. Shafiyev said: “They still look down on all these former Soviet countries.”

Russia has been largely silent on the crash in recent days. There was no comment from the Kremlin on Monday, and Russian state media provided only sparse coverage of Mr. Aliyev’s address.

Mr. Shafiyev said that Moscow’s muted response may reflect its confidence in its commanding position across the post-Soviet world. But he added that this confidence may be misplaced, pointing to the stunning collapse of the pro-Russian regime in Syria last month as evidence of how quickly its fortunes can change.

“For the moment, they can feel very comfortable that they are still a kind of big power, but over time, that might change,” he said.

Across the former Soviet Union, Russia’s grip keeps showing signs of strain. Azerbaijan’s archenemy, Armenia, no longer sees Russia as the guarantor of its security and is looking to the West and to Iran for support. In Central Asia, China is ascendant, as the former Soviet republics there view Russia as weakened and distracted by its war in Ukraine.

And just last week, another crack emerged in Transnistria, the pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova. The Jan. 1 halt of gas to the region from Russia, a consequence of the war in Ukraine, has raised questions about Russia’s ability to maintain a loyal outpost on Europe’s southeastern edge.

By comparison, Azerbaijan had appeared to be a more positive story for Moscow. Mr. Putin made a two-day state visit in August, complete with footage that showed him relaxing in shirtsleeves with Mr. Aliyev. The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency visited in September, casting Azerbaijan as an ally in countering Western efforts to undermine “internal political stability in our states.”

But last month’s crash has illuminated the limits of that partnership — and prompted Mr. Aliyev’s striking willingness to assail his country’s far more powerful neighbor to the north.

Flush with fossil fuel revenues and brimming with confidence after defeating Armenia in a long-running conflict in 2023, the autocratic Mr. Aliyev, 63, is seizing on the aftermath of the crash to shed any semblance of being dependent on Mr. Putin.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 jet with 67 people on board crashed in a ball of black smoke and orange flames on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan after failing to land at its destination, the southern Russian city of Grozny. Mr. Putin told Mr. Aliyev three days later that Russian air defenses were battling Ukrainian drones in the area as the jet approached, according to a Kremlin statement.

Mr. Aliyev said on Dec. 29 that this explanation and Mr. Putin’s limited apology wouldn’t be enough. Russia “must acknowledge its guilt,” he said, and punish those responsible. In Monday’s televised meeting, Mr. Aliyev went further, declaring that “there are very serious issues here that constitute a crime.”

The airspace above Grozny was only closed after the plane was fired upon, Mr. Aliyev said.

“If there was a threat to Russian airspace, the captain of the plane should have been immediately informed about it,” Mr. Aliyev said.

Mr. Aliyev repeated his claim that a Moscow-based aviation authority that typically investigates plane crashes in much of the former Soviet Union, including Azerbaijan, couldn’t be trusted to carry out a fair investigation — another striking rebuke to Mr. Putin’s government.

Kazakhstan has agreed to send the plane’s black boxes to Brazil, the country where the aircraft manufacturer Embraer is based.

Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, told a Kazakh newspaper in an interview published Friday that sending the black boxes to Brazil was the only way “to ensure a fair and unbiased investigation.”

Kazakhstan is another former Soviet republic that has sought, cautiously, to distance itself from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. The Azerbaijani news media has praised Kazakhstan for displaying “impartiality and objectivity” in investigating the crash rather than helping Russia to cover it up.

Mr. Aliyev said the black boxes could explain why the plane crossed the Caspian Sea to crash-land in Kazakhstan, rather than make an emergency landing at a closer airport in Russia.

Russia’s top aviation official said the plane’s pilot chose to land in Kazakhstan. On Dec. 29, Mr. Aliyev posited the theory that Russian air traffic controllers may have redirected the plane with the expectation that it would fall into the Caspian, in which case “attempts to hush up the issue” would have been “successful.”

Mr. Aliyev also said at the time that Azerbaijan would expect Russia to pay compensation to the victims. But in a phone interview on Monday, Joshgun Nesibli, the brother of one of the flight attendants on the plane, said he was interested in something else.

“Why do I need compensation from Russia? I don’t need it,” said Mr. Nesibli, whose sister, Hokuma Aliyeva, died in the crash. “I need them to apologize to the people, although this will not bring back our sister.”

Milana Mazaeva, Oleg Matsnev and Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed reporting.