Putin offers apology to Azerbaijan without taking blame for plane downing

In a phone conversation on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered an apology to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev for the downing of an Azerbaijani airliner on Christmas Day in Russian airspace, which resulted in the tragic loss of 38 lives.

Putin expressed his condolences but refrained from directly taking responsibility, explaining that the incident occurred as Russian air defense systems were actively engaged in repelling Ukrainian drone attacks on nearby regions.

The commercial flight had been trying to land in Chechnya but was forced to divert after coming under fire from Russian defense missiles, crashing in Kazakhstan.

Experts believe the plane’s GPS may have been affected by electronic jamming, and it was likely damaged by shrapnel from missile strikes.

Azerbaijan’s authorities have yet to officially blame Russia, though they have acknowledged that the plane suffered “external interference” during the attempted landing.

The Kremlin launched a criminal investigation, while Azerbaijan has also vowed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.