Azerbaijan plane crash: Russia President Putin apologises for ‘tragic incident’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday (December 28) apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev for the “tragic incident” after an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft crashed in Russian airspace in which 38 people were killed.

On Wednesday (December 25), flight J2-8243 crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

According to Putin, Russian defence forces were actively repelling Ukrainian drones at the time of the plane crash. However, Russia has not admitted blame for the crash.

Also read: Azerbaijan jet crash: Ukraine official accuses Russia of shooting down plane

Earlier, there were several reports saying the aircraft was shot down.

“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized 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 in a statement.

“During this time, Grozny, (the town of) Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defense was repelling these attacks,” the Kremlin added.

The Kremlin said the two leaders discussed questions about the crash “in detail.”

Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan's president, had noted that the plane had been "subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau," according to Azerbaijan's presidential office, a Reuters report said.