Azerbaijan escalates rare standoff with Russia over downing of passenger plane

Thirty-eight people died when the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on 25 December in Kazakhstan. Western experts said the jet was probably shot at from Russia. Photograph: Azamat Sarsenbayev/Reuters

Azerbaijan is escalating its rare standoff with the Kremlin as the fallout from the downing of an Azerbaijani passenger jet continues, highlighting Russia’s diminishing influence across the former Soviet Union.

Thirty-eight people were killed when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on 25 December near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after rerouting across the Caspian Sea from southern Russia.