Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan, decided to return home urgently from Saint Petersburg, Russia. According to Herald Economic, President Ilham Aliyev made this decision on the 25th local time after an Azerbaijani passenger plane crashed in Kazakhstan. The Russian news agency Sputnik quoted an Azerbaijani authority source saying, “Due to this tragic incident, the President of Azerbaijan is returning to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.”
President Aliyev dispatched a delegation to Kazakhstan to investigate the cause of the accident. At the time, he was in Saint Petersburg, Russia, attending the informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), where leaders from Russia and other former Soviet countries gather annually ahead of the New Year.
On that day, an Azerbaijani Airlines passenger plane, departing from Baku and headed for Grozny in the Russian Republic of Chechnya, crashed in Aktau, western Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan authorities announced that of the 67 passengers on board, at least 28 survived. Based on initial information, Azerbaijan Airlines revealed that the crash was caused by a collision with a flock of birds.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told Sputnik that Russia is in contact with local authorities through the Russian Embassy in Kazakhstan to support the victims of the crash. Additionally, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, expressed condolences and sympathy to the victims and their families on Telegram, as reported by the TASS news agency. He also noted that 12 of the survivors are in critical condition.