Leading Italian media outlets, including ANSA, “La Republica”, RAI, “il Giornale”, Askanews, “il Fatto Quotidiano”, “Notizie Geopolitiche”, “il Post”, “Latestata”, “Gazeta Express”, “il Foglio”, “Insideover”, “Gazzetta di Genova” have published reports highlighting the meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on the sidelines of the CIS Heads of State Council meeting.

According to the reports, during the meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, Vladimir Putin admitted that Russia bears responsibility for downing the passenger aircraft belonging to the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) last year.

The Russian President revealed that the Azerbaijani plane was hit by the Russian air defense systems, while en-route to Grozny on December 25, 2024, adding that the Russian side will do everything that is required in terms of compensation and a legal assessment will be given to the incident.

The reports also highlighted the details of the plane crash, which occurred in Kazakhstan, resulting in loss of life of 38 people.

Nihad Budagov

Special correspondent