ToplineRussia accidentally downed an Azerbaijan Airlines flight on Christmas Day and then attempted to cover it up, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claimed Sunday, though the cause of the deadly crash in Russian air space—killing 38 people—is still unknown.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people,

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.