Vladimir Putin has apologised for a “tragic incident” in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on Christmas Day, but stopped short of admitting Russia was responsible.
The Kremlin said in an official statement that Putin had spoken to Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, on Saturday by phone in his first comments since the crash, which killed 38 of the 67 people onboard.
“Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the statement said.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he had expressed condolences to President Aliyev and called on Russia for a clearer explanation of the crash.
“The key priority now is a thorough investigation to provide answers to all questions about what really happened,” he said. “Russia must provide clear explanations and stop spreading disinformation.”
On Friday, the White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US had seen “early indications” that Russia might have been responsible for the crash.
There has been speculation that the commercial airliner’s GPS systems may have been affected by electronic jamming and the plane may have been damaged by air defence missiles fired at Ukrainian drones. The head of Russia’s civil aviation agency said the situation in Chechnya was “very complicated” because of Ukrainian drone strikes on the region.
The Kremlin said: “At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks.”
The statement stopped short of admitting Russia was responsible for downing the plane.
The plane, which was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny, in Chechnya, was hundreds of miles off its scheduled route on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea. It is not clear why the plane changed course but Russian news agencies initially blamed fog. It crash-landed in Kazakhstan.
Azerbaijan has not blamed Russia but the former Soviet republic’s transport minister claimed on Friday the plane was subjected to “external interference” and that it was damaged before it crashed. “All [the survivors] without exception stated they heard three blast sounds when the aircraft was above Grozny,” said Rashad Nabiyev.
Kirby said the US had offered assistance to investigators; Russia and Azerbaijan are investigating the crash.
The survivors of the crash are being treated in a nearby hospital. One passenger, Subhonkul Rakhimov, told the BBC: “I saw the fuselage shell was slightly damaged and then I got scared. I thought the plane would fall apart. I was very surprised that I was alive.”
Another survivor, Vafa Shabanova, told the broadcaster that about 20 or 30 minutes after takeoff she felt two explosions: “The plane was supposed to land but it didn’t. Something exploded inside twice … we panicked.”
After the crash, Aliyev announced a day of mourning in Azerbaijan. “It is with deep sadness that I express my condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to those injured,” he wrote on social media.