Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to the president of neighboring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, in which 38 people were killed – but he stopped short of saying that Russia was to blame.
In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic event” had occurred when Russian air defense systems were actively destroying Ukrainian drones.
The plane reportedly came under fire from Russian air defense systems while attempting to land in Chechnya – forcing it to overshoot the Caspian Sea.
It crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 on board.
The Kremlin released a statement on Saturday noting that Putin had spoken with the president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the phone.
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident in the Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished speedy recovery to the injuries,” the statement said.
By Saturday, the Kremlin had not yet commented on the accident. But Russian aviation authorities had said the situation in the region was “very complicated” due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Chechnya.
Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe that electronic interference affected the plane's GPS systems and that it was then damaged by shrapnel from Russian anti-aircraft missile blasts.
Survivors had previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane crashed, suggesting it had been targeted.
Azerbaijan had not officially accused Russia this week, but the country's transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and had been damaged both internally and externally during the crash. as he was trying to land.
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