Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart on Saturday for what he called a “tragic incident” after the crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane in Kazakhstan, which killed 38 people, but did not admit Moscow's responsibility.
Putin's apology came amid growing allegations that the plane was shot down by Russian air defenses trying to repel a Ukrainian drone attack near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
An official Kremlin statement issued Saturday said air defense systems opened fire near Grozny airport as a passenger plane “repeatedly” tried to land there on Wednesday. It was not clearly stated that one of them hit the plane.
The statement said Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic event occurred in Russian airspace.”
The readout shows that Russia has launched an investigation into the incident, and Azerbaijani prosecutors have arrived in Grozny to take part in it.
The Kremlin also announced that “appropriate services” of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are jointly investigating the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The plane was flying from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, to Grozny when it veered toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while attempting to land. 29 people survived.
As mounting evidence points to the possibility that an Azerbaijan Airlines plane was shot down by a missile, some survivors are recounting the moments before the plane crashed in Kazakhstan.
According to a reading of the telephone conversation provided by Aliyev's press office, the Azerbaijani president told Putin that there had been “external physical and technical interference” on the plane, although he did not blame Russian air defense.
Aliyev noted that the plane had many holes in the fuselage and passengers suffered injuries “as a result of foreign particles entering the cabin during the flight.”
On Friday, a U.S. official and an Azerbaijani minister issued separate statements blaming the crash on external weapons, echoing statements by aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defense systems responding to the Ukrainian attack.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises in the plane as it circled over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatia, said Friday that as a plane prepared to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones targeted the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.
Jadrov said that after two unsuccessful landing attempts, the captain was offered other airports, but he decided to fly to Aktau.
As Azerbaijan mourns the 38 people killed aboard a plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, experts point to signs they say suggest a missile, potentially Russian, was responsible for the attack.
Earlier this week, Rosaviatsia cited unspecified early evidence that a bird strike led to an onboard emergency.
In the days after the crash, Azerbaijan Airlines blamed “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. It did not say where the disruption was coming from or provide any further details.