Putin apologizes to Aliyev over ‘tragic incident’ with Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash

Emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet near the western Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Issa Tazhenbayev / AFP)
Emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet near the western Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Issa Tazhenbayev / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologizes to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, for what the Kremlin said was a “tragic incident” in Russian airspace involving the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25.

Putin tells Aliyev that Russian air defense was active when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before it crashed in a phone call, the Kremlin says.

“During this time, Grozny, (the town of) Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defense was repelling these attacks,” the Kremlin says Putin told Aliyev, without explicitly acknowledging that that Russian air defenses hit the plane.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 came down near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from Grozny, killing 38 people.

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