Payments in connection with the AZAL plane crash have caused a dispute between Moscow and Baku

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Russia has paid full compensation for the Azerbaijani plane that crashed in Aktau and insurance payments to most of the families of the victims. Insurance payments and compensation should not be confused, official Baku objected.

As "Caucasian Knot" wrote, in March, the company "AlfaStrakhovanie" paid compensation under the aviation insurance for the crash of the Baku-Grozny plane and began to pay for the damage to passengers.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement on payments in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijani airline AZAL.

Since February 2025, the Russian insurance company AlfaStrakhovanie JSC has been making insurance payments in connection with the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane (Baku-Grozny flight). The Azerbaijani airline was paid insurance compensation for the plane in the amount of the full insured value - 1.003 billion rubles. Claims related to injuries and deaths of 46 out of 62 passengers on the flight have been fully settled, including full payments for 7 out of 15 Russian citizens, 35 out of 38 Azerbaijani citizens, all 3 Kyrgyz citizens, and 1 out of 6 Kazakh citizens. To date, insurance payments have been made to injured passengers on the plane and relatives of the deceased for a total of 358.4 million rubles. Work with the victims and relatives of the deceased to agree on the amounts of compensation for the purpose of a full settlement continues," the statement published on the department's Telegram channel on September 4 said.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that the statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry on the issue of insurance payments is not only surprising, but also misleading to the public.

"Insurance payments to AZAL and passengers made by an insurance company registered in Russia and the issue of compensation that our country demands from the Russian Government in connection with the downing of the plane are completely different topics. The process of organizing the aforementioned insurance payments by this company has been going on for about six months. In general, these payments are made exclusively within the framework of the AZAL insurance contract and are the fulfillment of obligations arising from the insurance of the aircraft and passengers. As for the fact that payments are made by a Russian insurance company, we note that aircraft are usually insured through the relevant international insurance companies. However, given that international insurance companies do not operate in Russia, the AZAL aircraft was insured through a Russian company. "Thus, attempts to equate insurance payments with the compensation claim filed by Azerbaijan against the Russian government are incorrect," said Ayhan Hajizade, head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

He also noted that the Russian side's position that the arrest of 13 Russian citizens in Azerbaijan in July of this year is the reason for the deterioration of the two countries is wrong. "The tension in Azerbaijani-Russian relations is caused by the crash of the AZAL plane, which was shot down as a result of the attack, and the subsequent behavior of Russian officials. An additional source of tension was the persecution of Azerbaijanis on ethnic grounds in Russia, the beating and murder of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg. In addition, the activities of various Russian government agencies directed against Azerbaijan are also a factor that negatively affects bilateral relations," his words are quoted on the department's website.

The Russian Foreign Ministry objected that "the international investigation into the circumstances of the crash of the passenger plane, conducted by the Republic of Kazakhstan, with the participation of Russia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan, has not yet been completed," the statement said.

The ethnic raids in Russia and the retaliatory detentions of Russians in Azerbaijan have become a new round of deterioration in relations between the two countries. Baku accuses the Russian authorities of extrajudicial reprisals against Azerbaijanis, and footage of the brutal detention of Russians in Baku looks like a demonstrative response to Moscow's actions, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Crisis in Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia".

On June 28, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called on the Russian authorities to investigate the deaths and injuries of Azerbaijanis who suffered on June 27 as a result of a special operation by security forces in Yekaterinburg. Experts in Baku called the cause of death of brothers Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov blows with a blunt object, while the Russian side called the cause of death a heart attack.

It should be noted that on September 3, the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan met in Beijing and shook hands, but refrained from talking .

New The deterioration of relations between the two countries was marked by ethnic raids in Russia and retaliatory detentions of Russians in Azerbaijan. Baku accuses the Russian authorities of extrajudicial reprisals against Azerbaijanis, and footage of the brutal detention of Russians in Baku looks like a demonstrative response to Moscow's actions, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Crisis in Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia".