President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev gave a 23-minute interview to the Al-Arabiya channel, in which he commented on the crash of the AZAL plane and the death of two Azerbaijani citizens, brothers Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov, after being detained by Russian security forces.
"Two people were tortured and killed. And in the official information that followed, it was stated that they died of a heart attack. Even if they allegedly committed a crime 20 years ago, they are still people. They cannot be treated like this. What kind of attitude is this? This was an unprecedented act against our people," said the Azerbaijani president.
Regarding Russia's involvement in the crash of the AZAL plane, Aliyev said that "the reaction of Russian officials to the incident causes great disappointment and dissatisfaction in Azerbaijan."
"Yes, our people were disappointed, angry, upset. We were waiting for the investigation to end sooner or later. But then these unfounded attacks on Azerbaijanis in Russia began," said the head of Azerbaijan.
In his opinion, Baku "is not responsible" for the deterioration of relations with Russia, because it responds constructively and legally, but will never tolerate any signs or manifestations of aggression or disrespect.
Regarding Russia's involvement in the crash of the AZAL plane, the President of Azerbaijan said that "the reaction of Russian officials to the incident causes great disappointment and dissatisfaction in Azerbaijan."
"Yes, our people were disappointed, angry, upset. We were waiting for the investigation to end sooner or later. But then these unfounded attacks on Azerbaijanis in Russia began," noted Aliyev.
Aliyev also delved into history, calling the country's entry into the USSR an occupation. "After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established. <...>. It lasted until April 1920, when the Russian army invaded Azerbaijan and occupied the country," he said, adding that Azerbaijan created its state, but "the Bolsheviks took it away from us."
In addition, Aliyev, speaking about Azerbaijan's support for Ukraine's territorial integrity, called the war in the country a Russian "invasion."
The Embraer E190 plane crashed near Aktau on December 25 last year. According to Azerbaijani government sources, the plane was hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile "at the moment of drone activity" in the sky over Grozny.
On June 27, during a raid, security forces detained "several dozen" Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg, and the next day the Investigative Committee reported on the "suppression of the activities of an ethnic criminal group," which was accused of contract killings and attempted murders committed in 2001, 2010, and 2011. It later became known that after the detentions and searches, two people died, and several other defendants in the case were hospitalized.