Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to the president of Azerbaijan on Saturday for a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed after air defenses were used against drones. Ukrainians.
Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a fireball near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. At least 38 people died.
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary results of Azerbaijan’s investigation into the disaster said Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses had shot it down by mistake.
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deepest and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Kremlin said in a statement. a statement.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were under attack by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” the Kremlin said.
The Kremlin said the call was made at Putin’s request.
Ilham Aliyev, president of Azerbaijan, had noted that the plane had been “subject to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and a redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau,” according to the presidential office of Azerbaijan.
The Embraer EMBR3.SA passenger plane had flown from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny in the Chechnya region of southern Russia, before diverting hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea.
