The Russian Foreign Ministry gave a detailed explanation the day before about insurance payments in connection with the crash of a passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on December 25, 2024. The information and figures provided did not raise any objections. These are facts.

Axar.az reports that this is stated in a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The strange thing is that the press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that the arrest of 13 Russian citizens in Azerbaijan in July of this year allegedly caused the deterioration of Russian-Azerbaijani relations and put forward their release as a condition for improving relations. The press secretary did not say such a thing.

On September 4 of this year, at a briefing at the Eastern Economic Forum, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Zakharova, said the following: "The release of Russian citizens is an important step towards the normalization of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. The topic was discussed in detail during the meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation held in Astrakhan on August 22 of this year. Russia's position was conveyed in detail to the Azerbaijani delegation".

We also bring to your attention that the international investigation into the circumstances of the passenger plane crash, conducted with the participation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Russia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, has NOT YET BEEN COMPLETED (The distinction belongs to the Russian Foreign Ministry - ed.). Let no one doubt that our country is trying to clarify the causes of the tragedy and will spare no effort to present the full picture of what happened", - the Russian Foreign Ministry noted.

It should be noted that the other day, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that insurance payments have already been made for the AZAL civilian plane flying on a Baku-Grozny flight and crashing near Aktau airport after being shot down by Russian air defense forces in the sky over Grozny and continuing. M. Zakharova also said that the release of Russians imprisoned in Baku could be an important step in terms of normalizing relations.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, in its official statement today, issued a statement stating that insurance payments should not be mistakenly understood as compensation. The statement also reacted to the interpretation of Zakharova's words as a condition.