The foreign ministries of Russia and Azerbaijan have published a joint statement saying they have reached a “proper settlement” of issues arising from the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane crash in December 2024.
Among other matters, the two sides resolved the question of compensation payments related to the crash, the statement said, without specifying how.
“The steps taken confirm a mutual commitment to further developing mutually beneficial cooperation within the framework of allied relations,” the two ministries stated.
The statement said the plane crashed as a result of an unintentional action by Russia’s air defense system in Russian airspace.
An AZAL Embraer E190 flying from Baku to Grozny crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on December 25, 2024, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors.
The plane went down after being diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan during a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Caucasus regions. The crash triggered a crisis in relations between Moscow and Baku, in part because Azerbaijan demanded that Russia acknowledge responsibility for the accident.
Vladimir Putin did not acknowledge until October 2025 that Russia’s air defense system had brought down the AZAL plane. At a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, he said the crash was caused by a “technical malfunction” in Russia’s air defenses, and that the two missiles fired had not struck the plane directly but had detonated 10 meters (33 feet) away from it.
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