Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev: Russia must do these things after shooting down our plane

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said today (Sunday) that following Russia's admission that it shot down an Azeri passenger airplane, which then crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing most of the people on board, Russia must take a number of steps to make amends.

Aliyev said that "First, Russia must apologize to Azerbaijan. Second, it must admit its guilt. Third, it must punish the culprits, hold them criminally responsible, and pay compensation to the Azerbaijani state as well as to the affected passengers and crew members. These are our conditions. The first condition was met yesterday, and I am hopeful that the remaining conditions will also be fulfilled."

Before Russia's admission, some had speculated that the crash landing might have been due to a flock of birds or an internal explosion. Russia also denied the plane, damaged from shrapnel from anti-aircraft missiles, the right to try and make an emergency landing in Russia, forcing it to divert to Kazakhstan.