The Russian president Vladimir Putinin his conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, apologized for the “tragic accident” which occurred last Wednesday when an Azerbaijian Airlines passenger plane crashed in Kazakhstan while en route to the Chechen capital Grozny, an accident which occurred “in Russian airspace”, reports Interfax. As the Azerbaijian Airlines Embraer 190 was about to land, Ukrainian drones were attacking Grozny, and Russian air defenses were activated to repel those attacks. This is what Tass writes, citing Kremlin sources.
«The Azerbaijani airliner attempted to land at Grozny airport several times – added Putin according to what was reported by official Russian agencies -. At the same time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defenses went into action to repel these attacks.” However, the Russian president did not indicate whether or not the plane was hit by the Russian defense system.
Putin stressed the need for an “objective and transparent” investigation into the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan, which Washington and experts believe could have been caused by a Russian plane. «The Kazakh government commission tasked with investigating all the details of the accident will turn to Russian, Azeri and Brazilian experts. This work, carried out on the territory of Kazakhstan, will be objective and transparent”, Putin indicated during a phone call with his Kazakh counterpart, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reported by the Kremlin