The head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Aykhan Hajizade, is dissatisfied with the details of the payments provided by the Russian Foreign Ministry for the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane near Aktau.
According to Hajizade, the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry on September 4 on insurance payments "causes confusion among the public."
"Issues of insurance payments to AZAL and passengers by an insurance company registered in Russia's demands from the Russian government for compensation for the downed plane are completely different topics. The process of promoting insurance payments registered by the company has been going on for six months. In general, these payments are made in accordance with the AZAL insurance contract. When it comes to payments by a Russian insurance company, it should be noted that aircraft insurance is usually carried out through the relevant international insurance companies. However, taking into account that no international insurance company currently operates in Russia, AZAL aircraft insurance was carried out through a Russian company. In this regard, the Azerbaijani side considers incorrect attempts by the Russian Foreign Ministry to identify current insurance payments with compensation that Azerbaijan demands from the Russian government," Hajizadeh said in a statement.
In addition, he said that the Russian Foreign Ministry "incorrectly presents the arrest of 13 Russian citizens in Azerbaijan in July as a reason for the deterioration of Azerbaijani-Russian relations and offers their release as a condition for improving relations."
"It is known that the tension in Azerbaijani-Russian relations is caused precisely by the crash of the AZAL plane as a result of its downing and the subsequent behavior of Russian officials," the representative of Baku said.
He claims that "the persecution of Azerbaijanis in Ethnic discrimination in Russia, cases of beatings and murders of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg, as well as the activities of various Russian state structures directed against the interests of Azerbaijan are additional factors that have exacerbated tensions."
EADaily reported that on the eve of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in response to fakes about non-payments related to the crash of the Azerbaijani plane, announced the amounts that are paid to the Azerbaijani company and the victims. The Russian insurance company JSC "AlfaStrakhovanie" from February 2025 carries out insurance payments in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane (Baku — Grozny flight). The insurance indemnity for the aircraft in the amount of the full insured value — 1.003 billion rubles was paid to the Azerbaijani airline.
"The claims related to injuries and deaths of 46 out of 62 passengers of the flight have been fully settled, including payments for 7 out of 15 Russian citizens, 35 out of 38 Azerbaijani citizens, all 3 Kyrgyz citizens, and 1 out of 6 Kazakh citizens have been fully made. As of today, insurance payments have been made to the injured passengers of the aircraft and relatives of the victims totaling 358.4 million rubles," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
We also remind that "the persecution of Azerbaijanis in Russia on ethnic grounds," which Hajizadeh is talking about, is the detention in Yekaterinburg of members of an ethnic group — Russians, natives of Azerbaijan, for murders committed in the 2000s of Russian citizens, also natives of Azerbaijan.