\n
Dec 28 (BBC\/GNA) \u2013 Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin has apologised to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, in which 38 people were killed \u2013 but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.<\/p>\n
In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the \u201ctragic incident\u201d had occurred when Russian air defence systems were actively repelling Ukrainian drones.<\/p>\n
It had been reported the plane came under fire from Russian air defence systems as it tried to land in Chechnya \u2013 forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.<\/p>\n
It crash-landed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 on board.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin released a statement on Saturday noting Putin had spoken to Azerbaijan\u2019s president Ilham Aliyev by phone.<\/p>\n
\u201c(President) Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Prior to Saturday, the Kremlin had not yet commented on the crash. But Russian aviation authorities had said the situation in the region was \u201cvery complicated\u201d due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Chechnya.<\/p>\n
Aviation experts and others in Azerbaijan believe the plane\u2019s GPS systems were affected by electronic jamming and it was then damaged by shrapnel from Russian air defence missile blasts.<\/p>\n
Survivors had previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane crashed, suggesting it had been targeted.<\/p>\n
Azerbaijan had not officially accused Russia this week, but the country\u2019s transport minister said the plane was subject to \u201cexternal interference\u201d and damaged inside and out as it tried to land.<\/p>\n
US defence officials on Friday had also said they believed Russia was responsible for the downing.<\/p>\n
In Saturday\u2019s phone call, Putin acknowledged that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane had repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport in Chechnya on 25 December.<\/p>\n
At the time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian drones and Russian air defense systems had repelled those attacks, Putin said according to the Kremlin\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
Moscow noted that Russian investigators had launched a criminal investigation. Azerbaijan had already announced it would launch an investigation.<\/p>\n
GNA\/BBC<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dec 28 (BBC\/GNA) \u2013 Russia\u2019s President Vladimir Putin has apologised to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian airspace, in which 38 people were killed \u2013 but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible. In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the \u201ctragic incident\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":270663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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