Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev for what he described as a tragic incident that occurred following the fatal crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines jet in Kazakhstan this week.
The plane was traveling from Baku, the city of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it diverted towards Kazakhstan and crashed while trying to land. There were thirty-eight deaths.
In a statement on Saturday, the Kremlin said Russian air defence systems were firing near Grozny due to a Ukrainian drone strike, but stopped short of saying one of these hit the plane.
“Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Kremlin said.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks.”
Authorities across Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are investigating as speculation over what brought down the plane continues to swirl.
Statements by Azerbaijani officials suggest Baku believes the plane was hit midair, while the United States has said it had “early indications” Russian air defence may have been responsible for the crash.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, on Saturday called for a “swift, independent international investigation” into the crash.
The Russian president acknowledged for the first time that this incident took place over Russian airspace but coming short from admitting the possibility that the Russian military had any part in bringing it down.
