Putin apologizes to Aliyev after the Azerbaijani plane incident

President Vladimir Putin informed his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on Saturday that Russian air defense was active when the Azerbaijani Airlines plane attempted to land in Grozny before it crashed, but he did not clarify whether the anti-aircraft system directly hit the plane. The Azerbaijan Airlines plane, the Embraer 190, which was on a flight between Baku and Grozny, crashed in western Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people out of 67 on board.

Putin’s apology
In a phone call on Saturday, Putin informed Aliyev that Russian air defense was active when the Azerbaijan Airlines plane attempted to land in Grozny before it crashed, according to the Kremlin.

The Kremlin said that Putin informed Aliyev that “during that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones, and that Russian air defense was repelling these attacks.” But Putin did not clarify whether Russian air defense directly hit the plane. Although Putin did not acknowledge his country’s responsibility in the incident, he apologized to his counterpart Aliyev.

For his part, Aliyev told Putin that the plane had been exposed “in Russian airspace to external physical interference,” which reinforces the hypothesis that it was hit by Russian air defense fire. The Presidency of Azerbaijan said in a statement, “The head of state explained that the numerous holes in the plane’s structure and the wounds suffered by passengers and crew members (…) in addition to the testimonies of flight attendants and surviving passengers, confirm evidence of external material and technical interference.”

Speculations and calls for investigation
These statements come after days of speculation about the causes of the accident, while the most likely hypothesis indicates that the plane was subjected to a missile strike from air defense systems due to the holes in the cabin. The White House confirmed on Friday: “We have detected preliminary indications that suggest the possibility that Russian air defense systems may have shot down the plane.” For its part, the Kremlin refused to comment on the incident until the Azerbaijani and Kazakh authorities completed their investigations.