Today marks exactly one year since the tragedy involving the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane.

Axar.az reports that this was stated by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

“This is a tragedy that we share. Citizens of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan died in the plane crash. Citizens of Kyrgyzstan were injured. We fully share the pain and sorrow of all those who lost their loved ones,” she added.

Zakharova noted that on December 24, on the anniversary of the plane crash in Grozny, an opening ceremony of a monument erected in memory of the victims of that tragedy was held:

“The ceremony was attended by the leadership of the Chechen Republic and the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, Rahman Mustafayev. The image of the plane on the monument reads: “Eternal memory of those who died in the plane crash. Your names will remain in our hearts forever.”

Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of shooting down the AZAL passenger plane. She claimed that the main reason for the disaster was the terrorist attacks by Ukraine on Russian civilian infrastructure using UAVs.

“Immediately after the incident, the leaders of Russia and Azerbaijan spoke by phone. Later, on December 28, 2024, the President of Russia (Vladimir Putin) officially apologized to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan (Ilham Aliyev) in a telephone conversation for the tragic incident that occurred in the airspace of our country,” she emphasized.

Recall that on December 25 last year, an AZAL passenger plane flying on the Baku-Grozny route was attacked by the Russian air defense system in Chechnya. After that, the plane, which was not allowed to land at Grozny airport and was forced to change its flight direction, crashed in the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan. As a result of the incident, 38 people died, and 29 were injured.