Azerbaijans Leader, Emboldened, Picks a Rare Fight With Putin

It was a tense conversation between two authoritarian leaders accustomed to getting their way.President Vladimir V.Putin of Russia was offering explanations for the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that had killed 38 people days earlier.

Perhaps it was a flock of birds, Mr.Putin said, or an exploding gas canister.

Maybe a Ukrainian drone.But President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan was not buying it, according to two people familiar with that late December phone call.It had become clear within hours of the crash that the plane had been shot down by Russian air defenses in what appeared to be a lethal mistake.

It left shrapnel lodged in the leg of one passenger and riddled the fuselage with holes.On Dec.29, Mr.

Aliyev went public with his anger without mentioning the Russian president by name.“Attempts to deny obvious facts,” he said, “are both nonsensical and absurd.”The people who described the phone call insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic communications.

The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment.The furor over the plane crash — and Mr.Aliyev’s willingness to challenge Mr.

Putin in public — has revealed a remarkable breach between two post-Soviet rulers who had become close over more than two decades in power.Mr.

Putin tried to enlist Mr.Aliyev in an apparent effort to keep quiet the cause of the crash; Mr.

Aliyev, emboldened by Russia’s weakened influence in lands it once dominated, insisted that Russia publicly recognize its guilt....