Following Azerbaijan's president calling for Moscow to accept blame for downing an Azerbaijani plane, there is growing public anger toward Russia for its apparent attempts to sidestep responsibility for the incident.

The National Resistance Center (NRC) has obtained a letter from Turpal Ilyasov, the representative of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Russia's Ural Federal District, containing instructions on how to comment on the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the “tragic incident,” which left 38 people dead, though he stopped short of taking responsibility.