MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday to his Azerbaijani counterpart for the “tragic incident,” in reference to the Azerbaijani plane crash in Kazakhstan where 38 people died, but he did not go as far as to acknowledge that Moscow was responsible.
Putin's apology came as accusations increase that the plane was shot down by Russian air defenses trying to thwart an attack with Ukrainian drones near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
What happened in the Azerbaijan Airlines plane accident?
An official statement from the Kremlin issued on Saturday highlighted that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport while the plane "attempted to land repeatedly" on Wednesday. It did not explicitly mention that one of these impacted the plane.
The statement indicated that Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev "for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace."
The newsletter added that Russia has initiated a criminal investigation into the incident and that prosecutors from Azerbaijan have arrived in Grozny to participate. The Kremlin also stated that the "relevant services" of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan are jointly investigating the accident site near the city of Aktau.
The plane was flying on Wednesday from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to Grozny when it diverted towards Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from its intended destination, and crashed while attempting to land. There were 29 survivors.
According to a summary of the call provided by Aliyev's press office, the Azerbaijani president told Putin that the plane had been subjected to "external physical and technical interference," although he also refrained from blaming the Russian air defenses.
Aliyev pointed out that the plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had suffered injuries "due to external particles that penetrated the cabin in mid-flight".
On Friday, the Azerbaijani Minister of Transportation, Rashan Nabiyev, and the White House National Security spokesperson, John Kirby, made comments that coincided with those made by external aviation experts who blamed the accident on Russian air defense systems in response to a Ukrainian attack. However, neither of the two officials directly addressed the statements blaming the air defenses.
Kirby informed journalists on Friday that the United States "has seen some early indications that certainly point to the possibility that this plane was shot down by Russian air defense systems," but he refused to give further details, citing an ongoing investigation.
Nabiyev told the Azerbaijani press that "preliminary conclusions from experts point to an external impact", as do witness testimonies.
Passengers and crew who survived the accident told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane while it was circling over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said on Friday that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in dense fog, Ukrainian drones were attacking the city, leading authorities to close the area to air traffic.
Yadrov indicated that after the captain made two failed landing attempts, other airports were offered to him, but he decided to fly to Aktau, in Kazakhstan, on the other side of the Caspian Sea.