Putin apologises to Azerbaijani counterpart over 'tragic incident' of plane crash that killed 38 people

28 December 2024, 13:53 | Updated: 28 December 2024, 13:55

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a "tragic incident" following a plane crash in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people.

In the last few days many experts have suggested Russia shot down the plane using surface-to-air missiles.

The Azerbaijani 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 towards Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land.

There were 29 survivors.

In an official statement on Saturday, the Kremlin said air defence systems were firing near Grozny on Wednesday due to a Ukrainian drone strike.

But Moscow stopped short of saying one of their missiles hit the plane.

On Friday, a US official and an Azerbaijani minister made separate statements blaming the crash on an external weapon.

Earlier, Azerbaijan Airlines has blamed 'external interference' for the plane crash that killed 38 people on Christmas Day.

The plane was on route from Baku in Azerbaijan to Grozny in Russia, and was rerouted due to heavy fog before crashing near Aktau airport in Kazakhstan.

The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.

Azerbaijan Airlines said on Friday that it was due to unspecified "physical and technical interference".

The airline did not say where the interference came from or provide any further details.

It has since suspended flights to several Russian airports.

Passengers and crew who survived the crash told local media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.

Mobile phone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before crashing into the ground in a fireball.

Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings, and the rest of the plane lying upside down in the grass.

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It was previously reported that experts thought it increasingly likely that a Russian air defence system brought down the plane.

However, it has since been suggested that Russia denied the plane an emergency landing, despite it suffering critical damage and the pilot’s repeated pleas, at three different airports.

The Azeri Times also claimed that Russia then tampered with the plane’s GPS system, forcing the pilot to divert the plane over the Caspian Sea.

The outlet said it was a deliberate attempt to make the plane crash in water to conceal any evidence of an attack.

Earlier, aviation analysts said images from the crash site point to damage from an air defence system, while multiple sources have told the Reuters news agency the same.

It is believed Russia used its Pantsir-S system to shoot down the plane, which was travelling over Chechnya, where Russia was actively shooting down Ukrainian UAVs.

Former pilot Terry Tozer told LBC: "It's looking probably 90% sure it was hit by a missile. The close-up shots of the tail section that the people scrambled out of is peppered with holes, it looks very much like shrapnel and that fits completely with (video footage of the crash), this was an aircraft where the crew were quite obviously struggling to control it.

"Close-ups show a lot of their normal landing aids were not being used which backs up the idea of complete hydraulic failure with loss of control so I think the pilots did a pretty remarkable job to get it where they did."

If this evidence is confirmed, it would be the second time in a decade that Russia shot down a commercial airplane, after the MH17 crash in Ukraine in 2014.

A national day of mourning was held in Azerbaijan on Thursday, with flags lowered across the country.

The Kremlin has asked people not to speculate about the cause of the accident before an official investigation wraps up.

Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said preliminary information indicated that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.