Following Azerbaijan's president calling for Moscow to accept blame for downing an Azerbaijani plane, there is growing public anger toward Russia for its apparent attempts to sidestep responsibility for the incident.

"We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia," President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised statement

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev blasted Russia for putting forward “absurd” theories initially and said Moscow must compensate victims’ families.

The news comes after a fatal crash involving the carrier’s Embraer E190 aircraft near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.

Russia pledged to hold those responsible for the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, which was targeted by Russian air defenses, Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Russia on Sunday of firing at an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet before it crashed and of initially trying to cover up the cause of the fatal disaster, demanding that Moscow admit guilt.

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has called on Russia to accept blame for a plane crash on Christmas Day that killed 38 people. The plane is thought to have come under fire from Russian air defence systems as it tried to land in Chechnya before being diverted to Kazakhstan, where it crashed.

The leader of Azerbaijan criticized the Russian response to the crash of a passenger jet that Azerbaijani officials said had most likely been hit by Russian air defenses.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev says the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has reportedly said that the passenger plane that crashed in Kazakhstan killing 38 people had been damaged due to a shooting from the ground in Russia.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says Russia shot down one of his country's passenger planes "by accident" last week.