Putin apologises to Azerbaijani leader for ‘tragic incident’ after plane crash

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following a plane crash in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people.

The Azerbaijani plane was flying on Wednesday from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land.

There were 29 survivors.

Air defence systems

In an official statement on Saturday, the Kremlin said air defence systems were firing near Grozny on Wednesday due to a Ukrainian drone strike – but it stopped short of saying one of these hit the plane.

On Friday, a US official and an Azerbaijani minister made separate statements blaming the crash on an external weapon.