Moscow hosts meeting of heads of CIS intelligence services

The White House said Thursday that President Joe Biden 'has been and will continue to be' apprised of the situation around Azerbaijani passenger plane crash in Kazakhstan, and is "kept up to date on what's going on," TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Criminal charges have been filed against officials from the Ministry of Health for issuing fake certificates for plastic surgery, a joint statement from the General Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Health on December 27. Specifically, the officials were uncovered for accepting bribes and creating conditions for illegal medical activities.

Despite the fact that the Russian air defense system mistakenly attacked the AZAL aircraft, Russia is responsible for this, stated the "Musavat" party today. It is "outrageous" that the Russian side did not allow the crew of the damaged aircraft to make an emergency landing in Grozny, Mineralnye Vody, or Makhachkala. Moreover, the aircraft's navigation system was disabled, causing Baku to lose communication with the captain of the plane for an extended period of time.

AZAL has halted passenger flights from Baku to three more Russian cities – Nizhny Novgorod, Vladikavkaz, and Saratov, a statement from AZAL on December 27. Earlier, AZAL had announced the suspension of flights to Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara, Grozny, and Makhachkala.