CNN —Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally downing an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering up the cause. The Azerbaijan Airlines plane was traveling to Grozny in Chechnya before it made an emergency landing near Aktau, the airline said on Wednesday. Emergency workers at the crash site of the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near Aktau, Kazakhstan. Aliyev said Sunday that instead of making up theories about the reason for the crash, Russia should instead take the blame and apologize fully. “Unfortunately, for the first three days, we heard nothing from Russia except for some absurd theories,” Aliyev said.

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Persons: CNN —, Ilham Aliyev, ” Aliyev, Azamat Sarsenbayev, ” AZERTAC, “, Marat Karabayev, Aliyev, Vladimir Putin “, Putin, ” Organizations: CNN, Azerbaijan Airlines, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, TASS Locations: Russia, Grozny, Chechnya, Aktau, Ukrainian, Russian, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan