NEW DELHI, Dec 28: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev for what he called a “tragic incident” which happened in Russian airspace involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed on Wednesday killing 38 people on board while 29 survived.
Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities. The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it turned toward Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land.
In an official statement Saturday, the Kremlin said air defence systems were firing near Grozny on Wednesday due to a Ukrainian drone strike, but stopped short of saying one of these hit the plane. According to a Kremlin readout of the call, Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”
“(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 Kremlin said in a statement.
“It was noted in the conversation that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft, which was travelling according to its schedule, repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport. 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 said.
On Friday, a US Official and an Azerbaijani minister had made separate statements blaming an “external weapon” for the crash. Friday’s assessments by Rashan Nabiyev and White House national security spokesman John Kirby echoed those made by outside aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defence systems responding to a Ukrainian attack. Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.
(Manas Dasgupta)