FILE PHOTO: People mourn at the grave of flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva during the funeral of the crew members of Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 that crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau, in Baku, Azerbaijan December 29, 2024. REUTERS/Aziz Karimov/File Photo
KHANKENDI, Azerbaijan (Reuters) -Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, on Saturday said he wanted Russia to publicly acknowledge that it had accidentally shot down an Azerbaijani passenger plane in December last year, killing 38 people on board, and to punish those responsible.
President Vladimir Putin apologised at the time to Aliyev for what the Kremlin called a "tragic incident" over Russia in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed after Russian air defences opened fire against Ukrainian drones.
