Azerbaijan's president said on Monday that Russia was "guilty" over the downing of an airline last month that Baku says was shot by Russian air defenses. An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 jet crash-landed in Kazakhstan on Dec.

Azerbaijan's President accuses Russia of downing plane, demands apology and punishment for "criminal" act, sparking diplomatic tensions.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it tried to make an emergency landing in Aktau, southwestern Kazakhstan, on Wednesday. It was traveling from the Azeri capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.

"We can clearly say today that the plane was shot down by Russia," President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised statement

Aviation experts say that Russian air defense fire was likely responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash the day before that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.

The extraction of flight data from the Brazilian-made Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan last month was completed at a lab run by Brazil's air force, according to a statement released by the entity on Monday.

In the crash’s aftermath, Azerbaijan has unleashed rare and stinging criticism of Russia, with the country’s president saying Moscow’s response has caused “surprise, regret and rightful indignation.”

"The blame for this disaster lies with representatives of the Russian Federation," Ilham Aliyev said on Jan. 6.