Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to the president of neighboring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, killing 38 people – but refrained from blaming Russia.
In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic incident” occurred when Russian air defense systems were repelling a Ukrainian drone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia should “stop spreading disinformation” about the attack.
The plane is believed to have come under fire from Russian air defenses as it attempted to land in the Russian territory of Chechnya – diverting it across the Caspian Sea.
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane then crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
Most of the passengers on the flight were from Azerbaijan, while others were from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
This is believed to be most of them. who survived They were sitting in the back of the plane.
Flight J2-8243 was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Chechnya’s capital Grozny on December 25 when it caught fire and had to be diverted.
The Kremlin released a statement on Saturday saying Putin had spoken by phone with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery.”
In an unusually publicized apology, Putin also acknowledged that the plane had repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport in Chechnya.
At the time, he said, the cities of Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz “were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and the Russian air defense system repelled these attacks”.
The Kremlin readout did not directly acknowledge that the plane had been hit by Russian missiles.
In a statement issued soon after by the Kremlin, Ukrainian President Zelensky said the damage to the plane’s fuselage was “air defense Very reminiscent of a missile attack”, he said, adding that Russia “must provide clear explanations”.
“The key priority now is a full investigation that will answer all the questions about what really happened.”
Earlier on Saturday, the Kremlin Refused to say Authorities say they are awaiting the results of an investigation into whether it was involved in the crash.
But Russian aviation officials said earlier on Saturday that the situation in the region was “very complicated” because of Ukraine’s drone strikes.
Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS system was affected by electronic jamming and was subsequently damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defense missile blasts.
Survivors had previously reported hearing loud explosions before the plane went down, suggesting it had been hit.
Azerbaijan did not officially blame Russia this week, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was the target of “external interference” and was damaged inside and out while attempting to land.
On Friday, US defense officials also said they believed. Russia was responsible. to fall.
Moscow noted that Russian investigators had opened a criminal investigation. Azerbaijan had already announced that it would launch an investigation.
The Kremlin said Azeri, Kazakh and Russian agencies were “working closely at the scene of the disaster in the Aktau region”.
Even before Putin’s message was released on Saturday, several Azerbaijani airlines began suspending flights to most Russian cities.
An airline said the suspension would remain in place until an investigation into the crash was completed.