Azerbaijani journalists publish names of those involved in AZAL plane crash

The order to shoot down the Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku to Grozny on December 25, 2024, was given by Major General Alexander Tolopilo, who was promoted after the crash, according to the Azerbaijani publication Minval. Russian journalists partially confirmed the publication's data.

As "Caucasian Knot" wrote, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced the preparation of documents to file lawsuits in international courts regarding the crash of the AZAL plane, since Russia did not admit guilt and did not punish those responsible for the deaths. In response to this, the press secretary of the Russian president said that Moscow hopes for an improvement in Russian-Azerbaijani relations. Azerbaijan's threat to sue Russia creates a negative backdrop for bilateral relations, but does not rule out reaching a political compromise in the near future, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.  

The names of the Russian military personnel allegedly involved in the AZAL plane crash are mentioned in the "minute-by-minute chronicle" of the plane crash, which was published by the Minval publication, without naming the sources of information.

The drone hazard signal was in effect in the North Caucasus Federal District from 3.26 am until midday on December 25. At 08.05 in North Ossetia, the “Carpet” plan was introduced, which required the immediate landing of all aircraft, and 08.12 the commander of the 51st Air Defense Division, Major General Alexander Tolopilo, ordered that this plan be introduced within a 50 km radius of the Grozny (Severny) airfield.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 aircraft was descending and approaching the Grozny airport from 08.09 to 08.13 during this period of time. During this period, it was not accompanied by the radar reconnaissance assets of the 51st Air Defense Division: the escort was stable only before 08.09 and after 08.13 (and then until 09.07).

At the same time as the Carpet plan was implemented in Chechnya, at 12/8, the commander of the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile system, Captain Dmitry Paladichuk, reported the detection of an aerial target, presumably a UAV. At 13/8, he received the command to destroy the target from Major General Alexander Tolopilo; the division commander’s order was conveyed to the captain by Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Orlyansky. At 13/8/27 and at 13/8/48, Paladichuk fired two anti-aircraft guided missiles at the target.

According to Minval, “both missiles hit an Embraer 190 civilian aircraft,” but Tolopilo subsequently “gave false testimony that both missiles allegedly self-destructed and could not damage the target.” He also hid information about the inadequate condition of radar reconnaissance equipment from the investigation, which is why the civilian aircraft was mistaken for a UAV. Even if we consider the testimony of Tolopilo and other commanders to be reliable, the decision to strike “an erroneously identified air target was made without taking into account the fact of the sudden loss of radar control over the movement of the Embraer 190,” the publication notes. After the plane crash, Alexander Tolopilo became deputy commander of the 11th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Eastern Military District.

Also on duty at the time of the missile launch on December 25 were the senior navigator of the combat control group of the 51st Air Defense Division, Captain Dmitry Pudovkin, the operational duty officer of the headquarters of the Southern Military District, Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Yanovsky, and the operational duty officer of the command post of the 4th Guards Army of the Air Force, Colonel Gennady Eremenko. All three, judging by the leaked data, are indeed connected with military service, but they refused to talk to journalists, notes Astra* (they are included in the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice).

Earlier, the publication also verified the data of Captain Paladichuk - in a conversation with journalists, he did not confirm, but also did not deny the data about his role in the incident. Russian journalists confirmed that Paladichuk's voice was used to record personal audio messages in which he explained to his fellow soldiers what happened - these recordings also ended up in the possession of Minval.

In the recordings, Paladichuk claims that he fired "in a completely different direction" from the plane, but suggests that fragments of missiles sent for destruction "could have hit". Paladichuk also admits that after the launch of two missiles he was told “that it was our plane” and then he “turned grey”, but later a certain “FSB operative” reassured him: “he says that the plane actually hit some mast during landing, I have nothing to do with it.”

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