Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to the president of neighboring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner at a Russian airport, in which 38 people died – but stopped short of saying that Russia was responsible.
In his opening remarks on the Christmas Day disaster, Putin said a “tragic incident” occurred when Russian air defense systems shot down Ukrainian drones.
The plane was reportedly attacked by Russian air defense systems while trying to land in Chechnya – forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.
It crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
The Kremlin released a statement on Saturday noting that Putin spoke with Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev by phone.
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that took place in the Russian airspace and also conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery,” said the statement.
Before Saturday, the Kremlin had not commented on the accident. But Russian aviation authorities said the situation in the region was “extremely difficult” because of Ukrainian strikes against Chechnya.
Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were affected by electronic jamming and then damaged by explosives from Russian air defense missiles.
Survivors have previously reported hearing a loud noise before the plane crashed, indicating that it was targeted.
Azerbaijan has not formally blamed Russia this week, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was experiencing “external interference” and was damaged both internally and externally when it attempted to land.
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