Azerbaijan’s leader on Monday accused Moscow of carrying out a “cover up” over a passenger jet crash last month that claimed 38 lives, as relations sour between the two neighbors.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says Russia shot down one of his country's passenger planes "by accident" last week.

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.”

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.