Russia's President Vladimir Putin has apologised to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan for the downing of a commercial airliner in Russian

Putin apologises for plane crash, without saying Russia at fault

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2024-12-28 14:30:07

Russia's 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 - but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.

In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the "tragic incident" had occurred when Russian air defence systems were actively repelling Ukrainian drones.

It had been reported the plane came under fire from Russian air defence systems as it tried to land in Chechnya - forcing it to divert across the Caspian Sea.

"(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," the statement said.

Prior to Saturday, the Kremlin had not yet commented on the crash. But Russian aviation authorities had said the situation in the region was "very complicated" due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Chechnya.