Putin apologizes to Azerbaijani over deadly plane crash

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev over the tragic incident in the Russian airspace involving Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25. The Kremlin said Putin called Aliyev on Saturday, December 28. In a statement posted on its website, the Kremlin stated that as the Azerbaijani plane attempted to land in Russia’s Grozny city, Russian air defence forces repelled the Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia. “At this time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” the statement reads. However, there was no comment in the statement about Russian air defence systems hitting the plane. Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane flying from Baku to Groznyy crashed in Kazhastan’s Aktau city on December 25 after it was denied landing in Groznyy and another two Russian cities of Makhachkala and Mineralnye Vody. Twenty-nine of the 67 passengers on board survived the crash. The survivors reported hearing explosions outside of the plane and video footage from the crash site showed traces of shrapnel in the cabinet and fuselage, suggesting that the plane had been struck.