Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 29 apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the "tragic incident" after an Azerbaijani passenger plane crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. However, Putin did not acknowledge Russia's responsibility in the incident.
Allegations that the plane was shot down by Russian air defences while trying to intercept a Ukrainian drone attack near Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic, have grown since the incident.
According to the Kremlin's official statement, air defense systems were operating near Grozny airport at the time the plane "repeatedly" tried to land on December 25. However, the statement did not confirm that one of the air defense systems had hit the crashed plane.
The statement also said Russia had opened a criminal investigation and prosecutors from Azerbaijan had arrived in Grozny to take part. Investigative bodies from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are working together to investigate the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan.
The plane that crashed on December 25 was en route from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny when it suddenly diverted to Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers away from its destination across the Caspian Sea, and crashed while trying to land.
President Aliyev spoke to Mr Putin and said the plane had been hit by "external physical and technical interference", but did not name Russian air defence systems. Mr Aliyev stressed that the fuselage had multiple holes and passengers were injured by "foreign objects that penetrated the cabin during flight".
Azerbaijan Airlines suspended flights to several Russian airports following the incident, claiming the plane suffered "physical and technical interference".
Meanwhile, several other airlines, including Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air and Turkmenistan Airlines, have also suspended flights to Russia over safety concerns.
