Putin apologizes for the Azerbaijan Airlines crash, without saying that Russia is at fault

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.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said Russia must “stop spreading misinformation” about the strike.

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,” the statement said.

The Kremlin did not directly acknowledge that the plane was hit by a Russian missile.

Before Saturday, the Kremlin refused to say whether it was involved in 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.

US defense officials on Friday also said they believed Russia was responsible for the massacre.

In a statement released shortly after the Kremlin’s, Zelensky said the damage to the plane’s fuselage “is very reminiscent of an air defense missile strike”, adding that Russia “must give clear explanations”.

“The main thing now is a thorough investigation that will answer all the questions about what really happened.”

In a phone call on Saturday, Putin acknowledged that an Azerbaijan Airlines plane made several attempts to land at Grozny Airport in Chechnya on December 25.

Meanwhile, Grozny in Chechnya and Mozdok and Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia. They were attacked by Ukrainian jets and Russian air defense systems repelled the attack, Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement.

Moscow noted that Russian investigators had launched a criminal investigation. Azerbaijan has already announced that it will start an investigation.

The Kremlin said Azeri, Kazakh and Russian organizations are “working closely at the disaster site in the Aktau region”.