Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart on Saturday for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but did not acknowledge Moscow was responsible be responsible.
Putin’s apology came amid mounting claims that the plane was shot down by Russian air defense forces trying to repel a Ukrainian drone attack near Grozny, the regional capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic.
An official Kremlin statement released on Saturday said air defense systems fired near Grozny airport as the plane “repeatedly” attempted to land there on Wednesday. It was not specifically said that any of them hit the plane.
The statement said Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”
The complaint said Russia had opened a criminal investigation into the incident and that Azerbaijani prosecutors had arrived in Grozny to take part.
The Kremlin also said that “relevant services” from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are jointly investigating the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The plane was en route from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny when it veered toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers over the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while attempting to land. There were 29 survivors.
As more evidence points to the possibility that a missile brought down an Azerbaijan Airlines plane, some survivors are speaking out about the moments before the plane crashed in Kazakhstan.
According to a readout of the call by Aliyev’s press office, Azerbaijani President Putin told Putin that the plane had been subjected to “physical and technical interference from outside,” although he also stopped short of blaming Russian air defenses.
Aliyev noted that the plane had several holes in the fuselage and that the occupants suffered injuries “because foreign objects entered the cabin during the flight.”
On Friday, a U.S. official and an Azerbaijani minister issued separate statements blaming an external weapon for the crash. They repeated the statements of aviation experts who blamed Russian air defense systems for the crash in response to a Ukrainian attack.
Passengers and crew members who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media they heard loud noises inside the plane as it circled over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia, said on Friday that Ukrainian drones targeted the city as the plane prepared to land in Grozny in thick fog, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.
Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful attempts to land, he was offered other airports but decided to fly to Aktau.
As Azerbaijan mourns 38 people killed aboard a plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, experts point to signs that a missile, possibly one from Russia, was responsible.
Earlier this week, Rosaviatsia cited unspecified initial evidence that a bird strike had led to an emergency on board.
In the days after the crash, Azerbaijan Airlines blamed “physical and technical malfunctions” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. It didn’t say where the malfunction came from, nor were any other details provided.
