The Azerbaijani publication Minval Politika has shared new information about the high-profile air crash that occurred on December 25, 2024. The names of all Russian military personnel who were on combat duty during the shelling of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane have been published. The publication does not name the sources of information.
According to Minval, "the following were direct witnesses and participants in the chain of actions at the time of the missile launch":
– Captain Dmitry Pudovkin, senior navigator of the 51st Air Defense Division;
– Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Yanovsky, operational duty officer of the headquarters of the Southern Military District;
– Colonel Gennady Eremenko, operational duty officer of the command post of the 4th Guards Army of the Air Force and Air Defense.
On July 22, the publication reported that the direct order to destroy the AZAL flight was given by the commander of the 51st Air Defense Division, Major General Alexander Tolopilo. According to Minval, this was reported during an internal investigation by Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Orlyansky, who received Tolopilo's order and, in turn, gave the order to Captain Pudovkin to strike the air target. It is noteworthy that the general not only escaped punishment, but also received a promotion.
Recently, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Baku is preparing documents to submit to international courts against Russia in connection with the crash of the AZAL plane. Despite the fact that more than seven months have passed since the plane crash, the perpetrators remain unpunished.
Recall that on December 25, 2024, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. 38 people died, 29 were saved.
The reasons for the plane crash have caused a lot of discussion, but the dominant version is that it came under fire from Russian air defense systems during an attack by Ukrainian drones on Chechnya. This is the opinion of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in connection with which he demanded that Russia admit guilt, punish the perpetrators and pay compensation.
On February 4, the Reuters news agency, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government, reported that Baku has evidence of the downing of the Embraer airliner by the Russian Pantsir air defense system, namely a fragment of a missile. Soon after, it became known that the Azerbaijani authorities intended to file a lawsuit in an international court over the plane crash.
