"Confess before it's too late": Baku hinted to Moscow about the International court of Justice

The incident with the passenger liner of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) on December 25 in the airspace of Russia, at the suggestion of Baku, acquires an incomprehensible acuteness, absolutely not characteristic of the current level of relations between the two countries.

Judging by the latest statements of officials and publications in pro-government publications of the Transcaucasian republic, they are determined by any means to bring the Russian side to justice. Up to a possible appeal to international courts.

A similar mood was made clear from the Azerbaijani capital following the preliminary report of the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan published earlier this week regarding the crash of an aircraft in Aktau, Kazakhstan. At the same time, the Azerbaijani media, again not of an oppositional nature, but adhering to the "general line" of the republic's leadership, do not particularly hesitate in their wording. So, it is claimed that "the Russian side still demonstrates a biased attitude towards the aviation incident."

It follows from the said preliminary report that the Embraer 190-100 IGW passenger aircraft, owned by Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC and registered in the state register under the number 4K-AZ65, operated a regular flight J2−8243 from Baku in Grozny, faced with the loss of GPS signals while in Russian airspace, over the airport in Grozny.

The report notes that after the aircraft was unable to make a re-approach over Grozny due to adverse weather conditions, the captain of the liner decided to return to Baku. After that, the flight recorder (CVR) recorded two extraneous sounds with a difference of 24 seconds. As a result of comparing the CVR and FDR (Flight data recorder) data, it was found that 4 seconds after the first extraneous sound, the 3rd hydraulic system failed, 6 seconds later - the 1st hydraulic system, and 21 seconds later — the 2nd hydraulic system of the aircraft.

Numerous holes and damages were found on the fuselage of the aircraft, recorded in the photo, as well as in the video. These damages were found in large numbers in the rear of the fuselage of the aircraft, especially in its vertical and horizontal stabilizers, as well as on the left wing and the left engine. Information was provided that the detected damage in the fuselage of the Embraer 190-100 IGW was formed as a result of exposure to third-party objects.

The report says that at 05.13.32 the main control systems of the aircraft failed, and at 05.21.42 the dispatcher-coordinator in Grozny informed the crew about the introduction of the "Carpet" plan over the capital of the Chechen Republic. Thus, according to the report of the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan, information about the introduction of the "Carpet" plan over Grozny was transmitted eight minutes after the loss of control of the AZAL aircraft.

"The purpose of providing these excerpts from the report is to once again remind the Russian side of its responsibility. After the publication of the report, the relevant Russian structures, in particular Rosaviatsia, made unsubstantiated statements to evade responsibility. The Russian press is not lagging behind in this matter either. Apparently, the Russian side wants to hush up this issue, to shift responsibility to the crew of the aircraft. This is clearly seen from the statements of officials, as well as from materials in the Russian press," the author of the publication launched into lengthy and very ambiguous arguments on the pages of the Azerbaijani Trend news agency.

Further — more. It is narrated that "the Azerbaijani side knows the identities of those who gave orders and opened fire."

"It is also known from which weapon the fire was opened on the Azerbaijani plane. A source in the Azerbaijani government told Reuters on February 4 that the plane was shot down by the Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense system (anti-aircraft missile and cannon complex. — Ed.)", — stated in the publication of February 5.

It is alleged that the Azerbaijani side has a fragment of the Pantsir-S1 missile, which "was removed from the aircraft and identified as a result of international expertise."

The publication calls "Azerbaijan's demands known" and "they were announced at the highest political level."

"The evidence base is being formed, facts are being collected, preparatory work is underway to appeal to the International Court of Justice. However, along with all this, the doors for dialogue with Russia are open. Moscow should publicly admit its guilt and take responsibility. Otherwise, Baku is ready for the next steps," Trend concludes.

So, the Azerbaijani press, and along with it, as one can understand, the authorities of the Transcaucasian republic, have already issued their verdict, although they leave the "doors for dialogue with Russia open."

Obviously, Baku is trying to resolve the issue with Moscow from a "position of strength", which it has been adhering to in relations with Yerevan in recent years. This approach is based on imposing one's opinion on the other side and elevating it to the rank of "ultimate truth."

The investigation of the aviation incident has not been completed, the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan has submitted only a preliminary report, Rosaviatsia has also made its assessments taking into account the incompleteness of the investigation. However, it seems that the Azerbaijani side is not interested in all this.

Last Wednesday, Rosaviatsia stressed that the report published by Kazakhstan is preliminary in nature and does not contain conclusions about the causes of the incident. The preliminary report of the Kazakh side confirms that the aircraft was damaged as a result of external influences. At the same time, the report does not reflect that Kazakhstan identified foreign objects inside the liner, and the Russian side did not have such an opportunity: these elements have not yet been transferred for examination. It was also confirmed that it was the crew of the aircraft that chose Aktau airfield for an emergency landing, despite the airports of Makhachkala and Mineralnye Vody proposed by Russia. In addition, the report states that it was AZAL pilots who broadcast information to Russian dispatchers about birds getting into the plane and the explosion of an oxygen tank on board.

At the same time, Rosaviatsia drew attention to the fact that the work of the investigative commission continues and the final conclusions on the causes of the plane crash will be presented in the final report.

Where in the listed statements of the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia the Baku observers saw "unfounded statements to evade responsibility", one can only guess.

It should be recalled that President Ilham Aliyev, a few days after the tragedy with the AZAL plane (on December 29, in an interview with AzTV), made a number of rather harsh statements, the implication of which was that there were actually no open questions for Baku about what had happened. At the same time, the head of the republic hastened to outline his conditions for a satisfactory settlement of the situation around the air incident by the Azerbaijani authorities. Among other things, Aliyev mentioned the need for compensation to be paid by the "guilty party".

It seems that the demands to punish the perpetrators, to pay compensation, coupled with hints of "proof of Russia's guilt" and the upcoming appeal to international arbitration highlight Baku's tendency to extract maximum benefit from the incident for itself. Namely, the benefit of a political nature. According to some analysts in the South Caucasus, in this way the leadership of Azerbaijan is trying to enlist a serious "trump card" in building further relations with Russia, which could be "sold more expensive" when solving a particular issue with the specified maximum benefit for the authorities of the republic.