Putin apologizes for Azerbaijan Airlines crash, without saying Russia is to blame

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to the president of neighboring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, which killed 38 people, but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.

In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic incident” occurred when Russian air defense systems were actively repelling Ukrainian drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said Russia must “stop spreading disinformation” about the attack.

The plane was reportedly attacked by Russian air defense systems while attempting to land in Chechnya, forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.

Crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of 67 on board.

The Kremlin issued a statement on Saturday noting that Putin had spoken by phone with Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev.

“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deepest and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” he said.

In the Kremlin it was not directly admitted that the plane had been hit by a Russian missile.

Before Saturday, the Kremlin had refused to say whether it was involved in the accident. 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 affected by electronic interference and then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defense missile explosions.

Survivors had previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane crashed, suggesting it had been targeted.

Azerbaijan had not officially accused Russia this week, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and suffered damage inside and out as it attempted to land.

U.S. defense officials also said Friday that they believed Russia was responsible for the shootdown.

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

“The top priority now is a thorough investigation that answers all questions about what really happened.”

In Saturday’s phone call, Putin acknowledged that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had repeatedly attempted to land at Grozny airport in Chechnya on December 25.

At that time, Grozny in Chechnya and Mozdok and Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia were being attacked by Ukrainian drones and Russian air defense systems had repelled those attacks, Putin said, according to the Kremlin statement.

Moscow said Russian investigators had launched a criminal investigation. Azerbaijan had already announced that it would launch an investigation.

The Kremlin claimed that Azeri, Kazakh and Russian agencies were “working closely at the disaster site in the Aktau region.”