A memorial plaque unveiled in the Chechen capital honors the passengers and crew of the Azerbaijani Embraer 190 airliner that crashed in late December last year. The plaque bears the inscription, "Eternal memory to those who perished in the plane crash. Your names will forever remain in our hearts."
The monument, erected in Grozny's Heydar Aliyev Square, has become a symbol of shared grief and remembrance for the victims of this terrible tragedy. The unveiling of the plaque coincided with the anniversary of the disaster.
Azerbaijan Airlines President Samir Musa oglu Rzayev and Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Rahman Mustafayev arrived in Chechnya to participate in the ceremony. Also present were Galas Taimaskhanov, Head of the Administration of the Head of the Government of the Chechen Republic, members of the government and parliament, representatives of public and religious organizations, the National-Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis in Grozny, as well as the families and friends of the victims.
Taimaskhanov reportedly presented the President of AZAL with medals "For Services to the Chechen Republic" intended for the surviving crew members who rescued passengers – Zulfugar Asadov and Aidan Rahimli. The event concluded with a prayer in memory of the victims.
On December 25, 2024, the Azerbaijani Embraer 190 passenger airliner, flying from Baku to Grozny, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau. There were 67 people on board, including 42 citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 Russians, six Kazakhs, and three Kyrgyz. Twenty-nine passengers survived. Moscow long concealed the cause of the plane crash, but it became known that it came under fire from Russian air defense systems during an attack by Ukrainian drones on Chechen territory. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev supported this theory, demanding that Russia admit guilt, punish those responsible, and pay compensation. The plane crash became the main cause of serious tension in relations between Russia and Azerbaijan.
In October of this year, after ten months of silence, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a private conversation with Ilham Aliyev in Dushanbe, for the first time acknowledged Moscow's involvement in the plane crash. He said two missiles from the Russian air defense system exploded just meters from the plane. He also blamed Ukrainian drones for the tragedy. The Azerbaijani leader accepted the apology, as well as promises to pay compensation and punish those responsible, and declared the conflict resolved. Moreover, he thanked his interlocutor for personally overseeing the matter.
"I would like to thank you for personally overseeing this situation. <…> You are personally overseeing the investigation, and we had no doubt that it would objectively resolve everything. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude once again for considering it necessary to address this issue at our meeting," the Azerbaijani president said.
In Ukraine, Putin's apology to Aliyev was seen as an act of capitulation.
