MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he known as a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 folks, however stopped in need of acknowledging that Moscow was accountable.
Putin’s apology got here as allegations mounted that the airplane had been shot down by Russian air defenses making an attempt to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike close to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
An official Kremlin assertion issued Saturday mentioned that air protection programs had been firing close to Grozny airport because the airliner “repeatedly” tried to land there on Wednesday. It didn’t explicitly say one among these hit the airplane.
The assertion mentioned Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the truth that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”
The readout mentioned Russia has launched a legal probe into the incident, and Azerbaijani state prosecutors have arrived in Grozny to take part. The Kremlin additionally mentioned that “related companies” from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are collectively investigating the crash web site close to the town of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The airplane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned towards Kazakhstan, a whole lot of kilometers (miles) throughout the Caspian Sea from its supposed vacation spot, and crashed whereas attempting to land. There have been 29 survivors.
In response to a readout of the decision offered by Aliyev’s press workplace, the Azerbaijani president advised Putin that the airplane was topic to “exterior bodily and technical interference,” though he additionally stopped in need of blaming Russian air defenses.
Aliyev famous that the airplane had a number of holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had sustained accidents “attributable to overseas particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight.”
He mentioned {that a} group of worldwide specialists had begun probing the incident at Azerbaijan’s initiative, however offered no particulars. Earlier this week, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor Normal’s workplace confirmed that investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny.
On Friday, a U.S. official and an Azerbaijani minister made separate statements blaming the crash on an exterior weapon, echoing these made by aviation specialists who blamed the crash on Russian air protection programs responding to a Ukrainian assault.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash advised Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane because it was circling over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, mentioned Friday that because the airplane was getting ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones had been concentrating on the town, prompting authorities to shut the realm to air site visitors.
Yadrov mentioned that after the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land, he was supplied different airports however determined to fly to Aktau.
Earlier within the week, Rosaviatsia had cited unspecified early proof as displaying {that a} chook strike led to an emergency on board.
Within the days following the crash, Azerbaijan Airways blamed “bodily and technical interference” and introduced the suspension of flights to a number of Russian airports. It didn’t say the place the interference got here from or present any additional particulars.
If confirmed that the airplane crashed after being hit by Russian fireplace, it might be the second lethal civil aviation accident linked to combating in Ukraine. Malaysia Airways Flight 17 was downed with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 folks aboard, because it flew over the realm in jap Ukraine managed by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.
Russia has denied accountability, however a Dutch court docket in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for his or her position in downing the airplane with an air protection system introduced into Ukraine from a Russian navy base.
Following Wednesday’s suspension of flights from Baku to Grozny and close by Makhachkala, Azerbaijan Airways introduced Friday that it might additionally halt service to eight extra Russian cities.
A number of different airways have made comparable bulletins because the crash. Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air on Friday mentioned it might cease flying from Astana to the Russian metropolis of Yekaterinburg within the Ural Mountains for a month.
Turkmenistan Airways, the Central Asian nation’s flagship provider, on Saturday halted flights to Moscow for not less than a month, citing security issues. Earlier this week, Israel’s El Al provider suspended service from Tel Aviv to the Russian capital, citing “developments in Russia’s airspace.”
