The foreign ministries of Russia and Azerbaijan published a joint statement on resolving the conflict surrounding the AZAL crash near Aktau. The parties agreed on compensation, acknowledging that the cause of the tragedy was the activation of the Russian air defense system.
Russia and Azerbaijan agreed on compensation for the families of the victims and those affected by the plane crash near Aktau in December 2024, when the Russian air defense system shot down an AZAL airline aircraft.
The foreign ministries of the two countries published a joint statement on Wednesday, April 15, based on the agreements reached by the presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, during a meeting in Dushanbe on October 9, 2025. Specific amounts and terms of the payments are not disclosed in the document.
The Embraer 190 aircraft, operating the Baku - Grozny flight, crashed on December 25, 2024, near Aktau, Kazakhstan. Of the 67 people on board, 38 died. Initially, Russia denied the involvement of its air defense, and Rosaviatsiya cited a bird strike as the cause. However, traces of shrapnel from a surface-to-air missile were found on the wreckage.
On December 28, 2024, Putin called Aliyev and apologized for the incident occurring "in the airspace of Russia," without mentioning the role of air defense. Aliyev later accused Moscow of attempting to cover up the truth and demanded "human behavior" - acknowledgment of guilt, punishment of those responsible, and full compensation.
Acknowledgment Without Punishment
At the meeting in Dushanbe, Putin acknowledged that the disaster was provoked by the "passage of a Ukrainian drone" and a "technical failure" of the air defense system. According to him, two missiles exploded a few meters from the aircraft, without hitting it directly.
Nevertheless, the investigation was not completed: in December 2025, the Investigative Committee of Russia closed the criminal case without holding anyone accountable, which raised serious questions at that time from Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
The joint statement from the foreign ministries of the two countries now states that the agreements reached "confirm the mutual desire to further build mutually beneficial cooperation within the framework of allied interaction," as quoted by "Deutsche Welle."
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