Dushanbe, October 9, AZERTAC

On October 9, Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, held a one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, in Dushanbe.

Addressing the meeting, President Vladimir Putin said:

- Dear Ilham Heydarovich!

We recently met, albeit rather briefly, in Beijing. We had spoken several times on the phone prior to that.

I would like to begin our meeting with the most sensitive topic – the aviation tragedy that occurred in our airspace. Even back then, in our first phone conversation, I not only apologized for the fact that the tragedy occurred in Russian skies, but also expressed my sincere condolences to the families of the victims. I would like to reiterate all of that and say that, as we agreed, we are certainly providing every possible assistance to the investigation.

The investigation is nearing completion, and we can now talk about the general causes of this tragedy, this catastrophe. It is connected with a number of circumstances.

The first is that a Ukrainian drone was in the sky. We were tracking three such drones that had crossed the Russian border on the night of the tragedy.

The second reason is associated with some technical malfunction of the Russian air defense system itself. The two missiles that were fired did not directly hit the aircraft (had that happened, it would have crashed on the spot), but exploded, perhaps through self-destruction, a few meters away, around 10 meters. This is how damage was caused – primarily not by warhead fragments themselves but most likely by debris from the missiles. This explains why the pilot mistook the impact for a collision with a flock of birds, which he reported to Russian air traffic controllers – all of which is recorded in the so-called “black boxes”. He was advised, and this is clearly recorded in the black boxes, to land in Makhachkala, but he decided to return to his home airport and then to Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, the facts remain as they are.

I have just outlined the causes of the tragedy. All of this is stated in the documents, following a thorough analysis of the technical characteristics of what happened and a second-by-second interpretation of the so-called “black box” recordings.

We also discussed this topic afterwards. Of course, the Russian side will do everything that is required in such tragic situations in terms of compensation. A legal assessment will also be given to the actions of all officials.

Of course, any words associated with this tragedy aimed at supporting or providing some moral consolation to the families will not solve the main problem – they can’t bring back to life the people who died as a result of the tragedy.

However, let me repeat that our duty, and we agreed on this from the very beginning, is to provide an objective assessment of everything that happened and identify the true causes. But it takes time. It will probably take some more time to finally bring the matter to a close. But overall, I have basically outlined to you what I was briefed on just the day before our meeting, yesterday, and the day before. Frankly, I even called Moscow last night and asked if there were any additional details. I have told you practically everything I know. This is the first part.

Secondly. I would like to point out that, despite this, our interests, our mutual interests, align closely and are very similar. First and foremost, of course, this concerns trade and economic ties. Despite all the nuances associated with the tragedy I just mentioned and certain issues that arose in connection with that, despite all that, trade and economic ties have developed and continue to develop successfully. Last year, they grew by about 6 percent, while this year the turnover has already increased by over 16 percent. This is a very good indicator.

Thanks to your attention to this issue, our humanitarian ties have always been at a high level. But we will talk about that a bit later. We are grateful to you, first of all, for this, and, of course, secondly, we will do everything for our part to maintain this momentum.

And, of course, the situation in the region, the situation on international platforms in general – our foreign ministries have always worked together very closely. I do hope that this cooperation will not simply be restored, but will also be continued in the spirit of our relations, in the spirit of our alliance. We never forget about this; we remember the agreement that was recently signed, and we will do everything we can to implement all its main provisions.

Thank you.

x x x

Speaking next, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Thank you very much, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to you for the meeting. As you mentioned, we had a brief conversation in Beijing, and just two days ago, I called you on your birthday. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you once again and wish you, your family, and the friendly people of Russia all the best.

I also extend my special thanks for the detailed information regarding the tragedy last December involving the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane. We were in immediate contact. As you recall, on that tragic day, I was flying to a meeting in St. Petersburg, and when I was informed about the incident, I called you directly from the plane, and we expressed our condolences. I also asked you to convey to our colleagues, who were also expected to participate in that event, that, for objective reasons, I would not be able to attend the informal CIS summit.

I would also like to thank you for your personal oversight of this situation. Since we have repeatedly exchanged views and our teams have maintained regular contact, and given your personal attention to the investigation, we had no doubt that it would thoroughly and objectively establish all the circumstances. Therefore, I would like once again to express my gratitude that you deemed it important to address this issue during our meeting.

As you noted, our relations have developed successfully this year not only in trade and economic areas but also across all other fields. There is strong momentum in the growth of trade turnover, and no slowdown or setbacks have been observed in any other area. On the contrary, the roadmaps we approved are being successfully implemented.

A meeting of the Azerbaijan-Russia Intergovernmental Commission was also held recently, where the co-chairs discussed a wide range of issues in detail - not just trade and economic matters.

Of course, today we have a good opportunity to review the agenda again. It is quite extensive and positive. Once again, thank you very much for this information, and I am confident that the messages we are sending to our societies today will be positively received.

President Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

President Ilham Aliyev: Thank you.