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Russian President Vladimir Putin told Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev in a phone call that “the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace. “
By Anatoly Kurmanaev
Reporting from Berlin
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin apologized Saturday for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane last week, breaking the Kremlin’s three-day silence over the crash that killed 38 people. He explicitly recognized Russia’s duty in the accident.
Putin “apologized” for the twist of fate by making a phone call to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, the Kremlin said in a statement. It was Putin who initiated the phone call, according to the statement, and told Putin. Aliyev “that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace. “
Mr. Putin said that as the plane approached its scheduled destination of Grozny, in southern Russia, Russian air defenses had begun to repulse an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Grozny airport and others nearby, according to the Kremlin.
Aviation experts and U.S. officials believe a Russian air-defense missile may have mistakenly downed the passenger jet. The Kremlin statement stopped short of attributing the crash to a Russian missile, but in its own statement acknowledging the apology, Azerbaijan’s presidential office suggested that was indeed the cause.
“President Ilham Aliyev was pressured because the Azerbaijan Airlines plane encountered external physical and technical interference while in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control,” he said on Saturday. Azerbaijan’s presidential workplace in aArray The plane “was able to make an emergency landing only thanks to the courage and professionalism of the pilots,” he added.
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