Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane bound for Russia crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day.
In his first comments since the twist of fate that killed 38 of the other 67 people on board, Putin expressed his condolences but stopped short of holding Moscow responsible.
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin and Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
Azerbaijan is Russia’s best friend and could be difficult for Putin if Moscow is proven to be the culprit.
Anton Barbashin, editorial director of Riddle Russia, an online magazine on Russian affairs, posted on X on Friday that Azerbaijan is “crucial to Russia’s regional infrastructure ambitions” and that he believed Putin would apologize.
U.S. officials had said that Moscow was responsible for the plane crash although Baku had not officially blamed Russia. Azerbaijan did say that the plane had been subject to “external interference” as it tried to land.
Flight 8243, which was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau on Wednesday, killing at least 38 people.
“Vladimir Putin apologized 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,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The Kremlin said that as the plane landed in Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ukrainian drones carried out strikes.
“Meanwhile, Grozny [and the cities of] Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defense repelling those attacks,” Putin told Aliyev, without specifying whether Russian air defense had attacked the plane.
Azerbaijan’s presidency said in a statement that Aliyev, under pressure, found that the plane encountered “external physical and technical interference while in Russian airspace, resulting in a total loss of control. “
Multiple holes in the aircraft’s fuselage, injuries suffered by passengers and crew caused by foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight, and testimonies from survivors “confirm evidence of external physical and technical interference,” the statement said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that he had also expressed his condolences to Aliyev and called for “a thorough investigation. ” He said Russia “must give transparent explanations and prevent the spread of disinformation. “
The Kremlin in its statement: “Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace. “
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said in X: “The most sensible thing to do now is a thorough investigation that provides answers to all questions about what happened. “
Azerbaijan’s presidency said: “President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane encountered external physical and technical interference while in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control.”
Janis Kluge, deputy head of the Eastern Europe & Eurasia Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs posted on X: “Fascinating: Putin apologizes to Ilham Aliyev…he didn’t publicly admit it was a Russian missile, but the apology is as close as Moscow will get to admitting anything.”
Russians, Azerbaijanis and Kazakhs are at the scene of the crisis in the Aktau region. Moscow said Russian investigators had opened an investigation into criminals and Baku had already announced it would publish its own investigation.
Kaja Kallas, EU foreign affairs chief, the incident of the 2014 crash by Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine of MH17, a Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
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Update 12/28/24, 10:36 a. m. m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular the war started by Moscow. He also covers other areas of geopolitics including China. Brendan joined Newsweek in 2018 from the International Business Times and well as English, knows Russian and French. You can get in touch with Brendan by emailing [email protected] or follow on him on his X account @brendanmarkcole.