Azerbaijan president blames Russia for shooting down plane on Christmas Day

President Aliyev says Moscow must admit its guilt' after downing plane, albeit unintentionally, with loss of 38 lives

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticised Moscow for trying to hush up" the issue for days.

We can say with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia ... We are not saying that it was done intentionally, but it was done," he told Azerbaijani state television.