Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to the president of neighboring Azerbaijan for shooting down a commercial airliner in Russian airspace that killed 38 people – but he did not say Russia was responsible.
In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic incident” occurred as Russian air defense systems were actively fending off Ukrainian drones.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia must “stop spreading disinformation about the attack.”
According to reports, the plane came under fire from Russian air defense systems while attempting to land in Chechnya and had to divert over the Caspian Sea.
The crash landing in Kazakhstan killed 38 of the 67 passengers on board.
The Kremlin released a statement on Saturday noting that Putin spoke by telephone 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,” it said.
The Kremlin’s reading did not directly admit that the plane had been hit by a Russian missile.
The Kremlin had refused to say before Saturday whether it was involved in the crash. But Russian aviation authorities had said the situation in the region was “very complicated” due to Ukrainian drone attacks on Chechnya.
Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane’s GPS systems were compromised by electronic interference and the plane was subsequently damaged by shrapnel from Russian anti-aircraft missiles.
Survivors had previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane crashed, suggesting it had been targeted.
Azerbaijan did not formally accuse Russia this week, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and was damaged inside and out as it attempted to land.
Representatives of the US Department of Defense also said on Friday that they were convinced that Russia was responsible for the shoot down.
In a statement released shortly after the Kremlin meeting, Zelensky said the damage to the plane’s fuselage was “very reminiscent of an air defense missile attack,” adding that Russia “needs to make clear statements.”
“The top priority now is a thorough investigation that answers all questions about what really happened.”
In Saturday’s phone call, Putin admitted that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport in Chechnya on December 25.
At that time Grozny in Chechnya and Mozdok and Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia were attacked by Ukrainian drones and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks, Putin said, according to the Kremlin statement.
Moscow noted that Russian investigators had opened a criminal investigation. Azerbaijan had already announced that it would launch an investigation.
The Kremlin said Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Russian authorities “worked closely together at the scene of the disaster in the Aktau region.”
