Kazakhstan delays release of Azerbaijan plane black box data

The publication of the black box data from an Azerbaijani plane that crashed in Kazakhstan last month has been delayed, a Kazakh official said Friday, after Azerbaijan accused Russia of shooting the airliner.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly said Russia's military accidentally shot from the ground at the Azerbaijani Airlines jet, which later crash-landed in Kazakhstan on December 25, killing 38 of the 67 people aboard.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said at a press conference that there were "difficulties" with compiling the report, adding: "we hope that next week the preliminary part will be published".

According to the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the results should have been published by Friday, or 30 days after the crash near the city of Aktau.

Aliyev has demanded that Moscow admit it mistakenly fired on the plane as it tried to make a scheduled landing at the Grozny airport.

Russia has said its air defences were working at the time in Grozny repelling Ukrainian drones but has stopped short of saying it shot at the plane.

Bozumbayev said the contents of the black boxes had been "completely deciphered" but the commission had to formally confirm the identities of those speaking by getting relatives to check, calling this a "big international task".

He said that a criminal case had been opened and the investigation would build up a complete picture through ballistics and explosives tests.

Kazakhstan, Russia and Azerbaijan have all opened criminal probes over possible violations leading to the crash and Bozumbayev said that Kazakh investigators and authorities are in "close contact" with Moscow and Baku.

The plane's black boxes were sent to Brazil -- where the Embraer jet was manufactured -- for analysis, with the involvement of Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Russian experts, before being sent back to Kazakhstan, which must release the analysis.

Kazakhstan has found itself in a difficult position politically over the crash since it is close to both Moscow and Baku.

Several independent experts had already pointed to the likelihood that the plane was accidentally shot down, with images of the fuselage drawing comparisons with MH17.

The Malaysian Airlines jet -- en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur -- was shot down by a Russian BUK anti-aircraft missile while flying over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 passengers, a Dutch-led investigations have concluded.

dr-bk/am/rl