Strana 17
title of National Hero of Azerbaijan. Steward
Zulfikar Asadov and flight attendant Aydan
Rahimli, who survived with injuries, were
honored with the Order of Courage First Class.
Heroes of Flight 8243
Let’s take a moment to honor the heroes who
fought until the very end to save the aircraft
and its passengers. The captain was 62-year-
old Igor Kshnyakin, an incredibly experienced
pilot. He began his career in 1982 at the age
of 20, flying the An-2 biplane. Over the years,
he served as a co-pilot or captain on various
aircraft, including the Yak-40, Tu-134, An-140,
and ATR-42/72. In 2013, he became a captain
on Embraer 170/190 aircraft for Azerbaijan
Airlines. He accumulated 15,000 flight hours,
with 11,200 as a captain. He is survived by
two daughters. Seated beside him as the co-
pilot was 32-year-old Aleksandr Kalyaninov.
He successfully graduated in 2021 from the
National Aviation University in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The third crew member who lost her life was
33-year-old flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva.
Alongside her work, she was pursuing a law
degree and was in the final year of her doctoral
studies. She had planned to switch careers and
become a lawyer, a dream that, unfortunately,
she never got to fulfill. In her final moments,
she tried to calm the passengers. All three
were buried together in Baku at the Second
Alley of Honor, a cemetery reserved for
Azerbaijan’s most distinguished figures and
heroes.
Russia has not admitted to shooting
down the aircraft, even a month after the
incident. Initially, Moscow outright denied
any involvement, and Russian propaganda
channels spread multiple alternative theories
about what might have happened. For instance,
they claimed that the shrapnel holes visible
in the intact rear section of the aircraft were
caused by gravel upon impact with the ground.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, just days
after the tragedy, stated that preliminary
investigation results indicated Russian air
defense was responsible. He acknowledged
that the shootdown was likely unintentional
but accused Moscow of attempting a cover-
up. Aliyev demanded an admission of guilt,
punishment for those responsible, and
compensation for the victims' families.
However, none of these demands had been met
a month after the tragedy. Azerbaijani officials
also pointed out that Russia’s refusal to allow
the damaged aircraft to land at any Russian
airport, instead directing it toward Aktau,
may have been an attempt to erase evidence.
Simply put, they may have been hoping the
aircraft would crash into the Caspian Sea…
Revived Memories of flight MH17
The downing of the Azerbaijani civilian
aircraft has revived memories of the tragedy
which took place on July 27, 2014. On that
day, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed
near Hrabove in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
The Boeing 777, registered as 9M
-
MRD, was
en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur
but never reached its destination. At the time,
Russia had provoked an uprising in eastern
Ukraine and was supplying the separatists
with heavy weaponry. Among the equipment
transferred was a Buk surface-to-air missile
system from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile
Brigade, based in Kursk. This system was
secretly moved into Russian-controlled
territory in eastern Ukraine. Mistaking
the target for a Ukrainian military aircraft,
the crew launched a missile at the civilian
flight MH17. The Boeing 777 was cruising at
33,000 feet (10,060 meters) at a speed of
915 km/h when the warhead of the radar-
guided missile exploded just above its cockpit.
Shrapnel instantly killed the flight crew and
tore through the fuselage, causing it to break
apart just behind the cockpit. The aircraft went
into a steep dive, and aerodynamic forces
completely disintegrated it before impact.
The fall lasted a minute and a half, scattering
debris across 50 square kilometers. All 298
people on board perished—15 crew members
and 283 passengers. Two-thirds of the victims
were Dutch citizens, including 80 children under
the age of 18. Once Russian forces realized
what they had done, the Buk system was quietly
transported back across the Russian border,
and multiple conflicting versions of events
A 2014 image of Russian fighters posing with the wreckage of the downed MH17 flight.
The three
deceased crew
members
were buried as
heroes—from
left to right,
the coffins
of Aleksandr
Kalyaninov, Igor
Kshnyakin, and
Hokuma Aliyeva.
The photo from
the farewell
ceremony was
published by
the office of the
President of
Azerbaijan.
UKRAINE
INFO Eduard
17
February 2025