Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash.
The Azerbaijan Airlines 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 toward Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land.
It killed 38 people, but 29 people managed to survive. Putin expressed “his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims,” a statement from the Kremlin said on Saturday.
An official probe into the crash has not yet finished, but survivors told authorities they heard three blasts that seemed to come from outside as the aircraft flew over Grozny.
The investigation is focusing on what “weapon” caused the incident, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev said on Friday after speaking with some of the survivors.
The Kremlin statement added that 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.
It also noted that the plane had repeatedly attempted to land at the airport in Grozny.
On Thursday, Azerbaijani government sources confirmed to Euronews that an initial investigation revealed a Russian surface-to-air missile was fired at the plane as it flew over Chechnya.
