WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS
A person identifying as a Russian officer said they received an order in December last year to open fire on an aerial target, which turned out to be an Azerbaijani passenger plane, Azerbaijani media outlet Minval reported on July 1, citing an audio recording and a written statement it received.
The Embraer 190AR aircraft, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024, after being struck over Grozny, in Chechnya. Thirty-eight people were killed.
Azerbaijani authorities blamed Russia for the tragedy, and an investigation showed that the Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense system mistakenly targeted the plane, allegedly during a Ukrainian drone attack.
Minval reported that it received three audio recordings, an anonymous letter, and an explanation signed by Captain Dmitry Paladichuk, an air defense crew captain who claims he relayed the order to shoot down the aircraft.
In the alleged explanation, Paladichuk stated that he had no reliable communication with Russian military command except via mobile phone. The potential target, he said, was detected at 8:11 a.m. local time, after which he claims he received a phone order to destroy the aircraft, which could not be seen due to heavy fog.
The captain claims that after the first missile missed, he gave the order to fire again. In his written statement, Paladichuk does not directly state that it was an Azerbaijani aircraft.
Minval stated that it could not confirm the authenticity of the written statement but could verify the credibility of the three voice messages, which also confirm the shootdown order and the resulting damage.
Independent Russian media outlets Agentstvo and The Insider confirmed Paladichuk’s identity as an air defense officer who served in several units, including the 14th Air and Air Defense Army in Novosibirsk.
The Insider also reported that the letter appears to be authentic, highlighting that the speed of the target, revealed in the leaked materials, indicated that Russian command must have known the target was not a drone.
The incident triggered an open conflict between Azerbaijan and Russia, despite the two countries typically being close political and economic partners. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Moscow of covering up evidence and criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for not publicly accepting responsibility.
Putin expressed condolences for the crash that occurred in Russian airspace but did not accept Russian responsibility.
The new details in the case are emerging at a time when relations between Russia and Azerbaijan have once again deteriorated. Over 50 Azerbaijani citizens were arrested on June 27 as part of a murder investigation in Yekaterinburg, and two of them died in custody.
Baku called their deaths “ethnically motivated” and an “illegal” act, and Azerbaijani authorities raided the offices of the Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik in Baku and arrested alleged Russian spies.
