By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has tendered apologies to his neighbouring Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, for the crash of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace on Christmas Day, in which 38 people were killed.
Putin, however, did not explicitly say Russia was responsible for the tragic incident.
The “tragic incident” occurred when Russian air defence systems were actively repelling Ukrainian drones, Putin said on Saturday in his first comment after the crash.
The plane reportedly came under fire from Russian air defence systems as it tried to land in Chechnya, forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.
It crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 out of the 67 on board.
Moscow released a statement on Saturday, saying Putin had spoken to Azerbaijan’s Aliyev by phone.
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” it said.
Moscow did not admit, however, that the plane had been struck by a Russian missile.
Prior to Saturday, the Kremlin had refused to say 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 strikes on Chechnya.
Survivors had previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane crashed, suggesting it had been targeted.
Azerbaijan had not officially accused Russia of the crash, but the country’s transport minister said the plane was subject to “external interference” and was damaged inside and out as it tried to land.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier accused Russia of launching an attack on the crashed plane.
