Putin apologized to Aliyev

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the fact that “the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”

He expressed “deep and sincere condolences to the families of those killed in the plane crash in Kazakhstan and wished a speedy recovery to the victims.” The telephone conversation took place at the initiative of the Russian side, the Kremlin press service reported on Saturday, December 28. The message says:

“Vladimir Putin apologized for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace, and once again expressed deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the victims.”

The plane repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport, which at that moment was under attack by Ukrainian drones, and Russian air defense systems “repelled this attack,” the press service assured. The Russian authorities have still not admitted that Russian air defense shot down an Azerbaijani plane.

Earlier, a member of the International Relations Committee of the Mil Majlis, Rasim Musabekov, said that the plane traveling from Baku was shot down by Russian air defense in the sky over Grozny. Musabekov suggested The Russian side must admit this fact and apologize.

Aliyev said that the AZAL board was exposed to external influences in the sky over Russia and was able to make an emergency landing thanks to the professionalism of the pilots.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case under an article on violation of traffic safety rules and operation of air transport. As part of this case, “civilian and military specialists” are being interrogated. Two employees of the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan are already in Grozny, where they work together with Russian colleagues.

On December 25, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan, flying from Baku to Grozny. 38 people died. A total of 67 people were on board, mostly Azerbaijani citizens.

The day before, the media reported that the plane was attacked on the approach to Grozny by a missile from the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft complex. The Russians prohibited the crew from landing at Russian airports and jammed electronic warfare communications.

American intelligence claims that Russia mistakenly identified the Azerbaijani airliner as a Ukrainian drone and shot it down using an air defense system, writes NBC News.

According to the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, there was dense fog at Grozny airport during the attack by Ukrainian UAVs, the captain of the ship made two unsuccessful attempts to land the planebut couldn't. After that, he “was offered other airports, but he independently decided to fly to Aktau across the entire Caspian Sea, where he fell.”

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