Putin apologises to Azerbaijani President over plane crash tragedy

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Azerbaijan’s president, describing the recent crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan as a “tragic incident.”

The crash claimed the lives of 38 people.

The aircraft was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, when it diverted toward Kazakhstan.

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It crashed during an attempted landing, leaving 29 survivors.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, it was noted that air defence systems were active near Grozny on Wednesday in response to a Ukrainian drone strike.

However, the statement did not confirm whether one of these systems caused the crash.

On Friday, both a U.S. official and an Azerbaijani minister suggested in separate remarks that an external weapon might have been responsible for the disaster.

(AP)