"I attended the farewell ceremony today and expressed my condolences to the relatives of the deceased crew members," President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijan Television, APA reports.
"Today, I will issue an order awarding the crew members. I highly appreciate their performance, professionalism, and dedication. The pilots and the entire crew showed true heroism. The pilots showed both professionalism and heroism in controlling the plane that was out of control in various ways. Of course, they were experienced pilots and knew that they would not be able to survive this emergency landing. However, they displayed tremendous heroism to save the passengers, and it is thanks to them that there are survivors in this plane crash. It is thanks to them that a section of the fuselage did not burn, and it is thanks to them that we can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia. This is a fact, and no-one can deny this fact. Again, we are not saying that this was done intentionally, but it was done," the head of state noted.
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