Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he described as a “tragic accident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, but he stopped short of acknowledging Moscow’s responsibility.
Putin’s apology came amid growing allegations that Russian air defenses shot down the plane as it attempted to repel a Ukrainian drone attack near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
An official Kremlin statement issued on Saturday said air defense systems opened fire near Grozny airport as the plane “repeatedly” tried to land there on Wednesday. It was not explicitly stated that one of them hit the plane.
The statement said that Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the tragic incident occurring in Russian airspace.”
The statement said that Russia had launched a criminal investigation into the incident, and that Azerbaijani state prosecutors had arrived in Grozny to participate.
The Kremlin also said that “relevant services” from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are conducting a joint investigation at the plane crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The plane was flying from the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, to Grozny when it headed towards Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and it crashed while trying to land. There were 29 survivors.
As more evidence emerges that a missile may have brought down the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, some survivors have spoken out about the moments before the plane crash in Kazakhstan.
According to a transcript of the call provided by Aliyev’s press office, the Azerbaijani president told Putin that the plane had been subjected to “foreign material and technical interference,” although he stopped short of blaming Russian air defenses.
Aliyev noted that the plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and that passengers were injured “due to foreign particles entering the cabin in the middle of the flight.”
A US official and an Azerbaijani minister on Friday made separate statements blaming the incident on a foreign weapon, echoing those made by aviation experts who blamed the incident on Russian air defense systems that responded to a Ukrainian attack.
Passengers and crew members who survived the accident told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on board the plane as it was flying over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority, said on Friday that while the plane was preparing to land in Grozny amid heavy fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.
Yadrov said that after the captain made two failed attempts to land, he was offered other airports but decided to fly to Aktau.
As Azerbaijan mourns the 38 people killed on board the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, experts point to signs they say indicate that a missile, likely from Russia, was responsible for the accident.
Earlier in the week, Rosaviatsia pointed to unspecified early evidence showing that a bird strike led to an emergency on board the ship.
In the days following the incident, Azerbaijan Airlines blamed “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. He did not say where the interference came from or provide any other details.
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