‘Tragic Incident’: Russia’s Putin Apologises Over Azerbaijan Plane Crash That Killed 38
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to his Azerbaijan counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, over the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 passengers.
Calling it a “tragic incident”, Putin expressed condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
“(President) 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 Kremlin said in a statement as reported by news agency Reuters.
The Kremlin further said that air defence systems were firing near Grozny due to a Ukrainian drone strike. “At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks,” it said.
What Happened?
The Azerbaijan Airline Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian drone strikes. Out of 62 people and five crew members, 32 passengers were rescued and 38 were killed in the crash.
What Caused The Crash?
Azerbaijan Airlines on Friday said the jet crash was due to “external physical and technical interference”.
Aliyev had also noted that the plane had been “subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau,” according to Azerbaijan’s presidential office.
Reports Earlier Claimed Russian Missile Strike
This comes in the backdrop of growing suspicion that a Russian anti-aircraft system may have hit the passenger plane.
Reuters cited multiple unnamed sources in Azerbaijan and reported that the plane was downed by a Russian air defence system. Reports suggested that the missile was “accidentally fired” on the plane.
The source said that the preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system. Its communications were paralysed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny.
“No one claims that it was done on purpose. However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft,” the source said.
Russia Rejected Claims
Azeri government sources told Euronews that the jet was hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile. Russia, reacting to the report, said that “it is wrong to speculate”.
“The investigation into the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash is underway and it is wrong to speculate before it gives its conclusions,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
Kremlin had said that it would be improper to comment until the inquiry was concluded. “It is wrong to build hypotheses before the conclusions of the investigation,” he had said.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said on Friday the plane had decided to reroute from its original destination amid dense fog and a local alert over Ukrainian drones.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended all flights to Russian cities following the deadly crash. Starting from Saturday (December 28), the airline would cease flights to Sochi, Ufa, Samara Volgograd, Grozny, Mineralnye Vody and Makhachkala, as per reports. Azerbaijan Airlines had initially halted flights between Baku and Russia’s Chechnya until the completion of an investigation into the crash, as per the TASS news agency.
If confirmed, it would be the third major fatal downing of a passenger jet linked to armed conflict since 2014, according to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network. Previous disasters include the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 in 2020 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, killing all 176 people on board.