Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered a carefully worded apology for the downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane which crashed on Christmas Day.
At least 38 people died when Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, local time, in fiery scenes near the city of Aktau.
Preliminary findings of the investigation into the crash of an Azerbaijani plane indicated that the crisis is affecting Russian air defense.
In a rare public apology, the Kremlin issued a statement on Saturday regarding a phone call between Putin and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
In his statement, Putin did not appear to take responsibility for the downed plane, but apologized for the incident in Russian airspace, while blaming Ukraine.
It also appears to have been replaced, with many media outlets reporting that Putin apologized for the “tragic incident,” a word that has since been replaced slightly with the removal of the word “tragic. “
“Vladimir Putin apologized for the fact that the incident occurred in Russian airspace, once back he offered his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the most recent read.
“It was noted during the conversation that the Azerbaijani passenger airliner was flying according to schedule and repeatedly tried to land at Grozny Airport.
“At that time, Ukrainian unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) attacked Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz, and Russian air defense systems repelled those attacks. “
He went on to charge that an investigation had led to the opening of a crime case under Russia’s Air Transport and Safety Law, with two officials from Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office traveling to Grozny to paint with their Russian counterparts.
“Relevant facilities of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are operating at full capacity at the accident site near the city of Aktau,” they said.
Other information was published regarding another phone call between Putin and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, during which the two leaders “exchanged condolences” over the accident.
The two men also discussed the ongoing investigation on Kazakh soil that would “call in experts from Russia, Azerbaijan and Brazil” to read into the flight recorders discovered at the crash site.
“This work within Kazakhstan’s borders will be carried out objectively and transparently,” the Kremlin said.
It is understood that 29 of the passengers and the team on board survived and were rushed to hospital.
One of the Azerbaijani sources familiar with Azerbaijan’s investigation into the crash told Reuters preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. Its communications were paralysed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny, the source said.
“No one claims that he did it on purpose. However, taking into account the established facts, Baku hopes that the Russian side will confess to having shot down the Azerbaijani plane,” the source said.
Azerbaijan held a day of mourning on Thursday, while the United States offered its own assessment of the incident.
One official told CNN that if it did shoot down through Russia, it would most likely have been attacked by poorly trained groups who fired because they were wary of the use of Ukrainian drones.