Russia’s failure to let the plane land and its refusal to take responsibility for the crash are upsetting a key partner.

Following Azerbaijan's president calling for Moscow to accept blame for downing an Azerbaijani plane, there is growing public anger toward Russia for its apparent attempts to sidestep responsibility for the incident.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday demanded that Russia admit that it fired at an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet before it crashed, accusing Moscow of initially trying to cover up the cause of the fatal disaster.

By Nailia Bagirova and Anton Kolodyazhnyy BAKU/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Sunday that a passenger plane that crashed last week, killing 38 people, had been damaged by accidental shooting from the ground in Russia,

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev says the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally.

The Azerbaijan Airlines plane flew hundreds of miles off its scheduled route from Baku to Grozny, and crashed on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Russia's aviation watchdog said a bird strike might have been the cause.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has accused Russia of accidentally shooting down an airliner on Christmas Day in a disaster that killed 38 people, and covering up the cause.

The probe into the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in Kazakhstan is examining the conduct of air traffic controllers after the aircraft encountered difficulty, a source said.