The Kremlin did not say whether Russia was responsible for the incident.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized for the fact that an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed after entering Russian airspace, but did not say whether Russia was responsible for the incident.
The Kremlin press office confirmed in a statement on Saturday that Russia’s air defense systems were active when the plane attempted to land in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic. The aircraft was unable to reach the airport and diverted eastward, ultimately crashing near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing at least 38 people on board.
“Vladimir Putin offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia’s airspace and once again conveyed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the plane crash victims and wished those injured the quickest recovery,” the press office said in the statement.
According to Kremlin, the passenger plane “repeatedly attempted” to land at the airport in Grozny but at the same time, the area was under attack by Ukrainian drones, and Russian air defense systems were engaged in repelling the assault.
Putin “apologized for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace” in a phone call with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, the statement said.
Russian authorities has opened a criminal investigation in relation to the disaster, the statement added.
By Bill Pan
