MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “painful incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but eventually admitted that Moscow was responsible.
Putin’s apology came as allegations grew that the plane was shot down by Russian defense forces in an attempt to disperse a Ukrainian drone strike near Grozny, the capital of the Russian region of Chechnya.
An official Kremlin statement issued on Saturday said air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the plane “repeatedly” tried to land there on Wednesday. It did not clearly say that one of them crashed the plane.
The statement said Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that a terrible incident took place in Russian space.”
The student said that Russia has launched a criminal investigation into the incident, and Azerbaijani state prosecutors have arrived in Grozny to take part. The Kremlin also said “relevant services” from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are jointly investigating the crash site near the Kazakh city of Aktau.
The plane was flying from the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, to Grozny when it turned towards Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers (km) across the Caspian Sea from its destination, and crashed while trying to land. 29 survived.
According to a readout of the call provided by Aliyev’s office, the Azerbaijani president told Putin that the plane was under “external physical and technical interference,” though he also stopped short of blaming Russian air defenses.
Aliyev noted that the plane had many holes in its fuselage and that the passengers suffered injuries “due to foreign particles entering the cabin during the flight.
He said that a team of international experts has begun to investigate the incident through Azerbaijan’s program, but did not provide details. Earlier this week, the Azerbaijan Prosecutor General’s office confirmed that Azerbaijani investigators are working in Grozny.
On Friday, a US official and an Azerbaijani minister made separate statements blaming the crash on a foreign missile, echoing those made by aviation experts who blamed the danger on Russian air defense systems in response to the attack on Ukraine.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard a loud noise from the plane as it circled over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, the head of the aviation authority in Russia, Rosaviatsia, said on Friday as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny there was a deep fog, Ukrainian drones were heading towards the city, which caused the authorities to close the area to the planes.
Yadrov said that after the captain tried twice and failed to land, he was offered other airports but decided to fly to Aktau.
Earlier in the week, Rosaviatsia revealed the first undisclosed evidence showing that a bird strike led to the emergency on the boat.
In the days following the crash, Azerbaijan Airlines blamed “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. It did not say where the outage originated or provide other details.
If it is confirmed that the plane crashed after being hit by Russian fire, it would be the second fatal civil aviation accident related to fighting in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed by a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people on board, while flying over eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russian Ukrainian for their role in downing a plane with an air defense system delivered to Ukraine from a Russian military base.
After Wednesday’s suspension of flights from Baku to Grozny and nearby Makhachkala, Azerbaijan Airlines announced on Friday that it will also suspend operations to eight other Russian cities.
Many other airlines have made similar announcements since the accident. Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air said on Friday it would stop flying from Astana to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.
Turkmenistan Airlines, the Central Asian country’s carrier, on Saturday suspended flights to Moscow for at least a month, citing security concerns. Earlier this week, Israeli airline El Al suspended service from Tel Aviv to the Russian capital, citing “developments at the Russian airport.”
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