Azerbaijan maintains a firm stance on the downing of the AZAL plane.

Axar.az reports that Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made the remarks while visiting the Mother’s Cry Monument on the 34th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.

The minister stressed that measures promised by the Russian President during the Azerbaijan-Russia presidential meeting in October 2025 must be implemented:

“The plane was shot down due to an error by the Russian Ministry of Defense. We expect all necessary measures to be taken, legal accountability established, and compensation provided,” he said.

On December 25, an Embraer 190 operating Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 from Baku to Grozny crashed near Aktau. Of the 67 people on board, 38 were killed and 29 survived.

Preliminary reports suggest the crash resulted from physical and technical interference while the plane was in Russian airspace over Grozny.