Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijan’s President on Saturday, December 28, for a tragic incident in Russian airspace.
As per Reuters, the incident involved an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed in Russian airspace after Russia’s air defences were used to target Ukrainian drones, which unintentionally led to the crash.
The flight J2-8243 crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, December 25, after it was diverted from southern Russia due to Ukrainian drone attacks on several cities.
The crash occurred in a fiery explosion and at least 38 people lost their lives.
The Kremlin said in a statement, "(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.”
"At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks," the Kremlin added.
On the other hand, Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev claimed that “the plane had been subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau.”
As per the sources, two passengers and one crew member from the plane said that they heard at least one loud bang while the plane was approaching Grozny.
