The Russian president spoke by telephone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
Vladimir Putin spoke by telephone with Ilham Aliiev, a few days after the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines airliner which left 38 dead.
The Russian President “apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace”the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday.
The Russian presidency indicates that “the airliner repeatedly tried to land at the airport of the city of Grozny”while “Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by drones, and Russian air defense systems repelled them.”
The Kremlin does not mention, in its press release, the allegations of a Russian air defense missile being fired on the plane. He talks about an internal investigation as well as the close cooperation of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan at the accident site near the Kazakh city of Aktau.
According to the Azerbaijani state news agency, Ilham Aliyev stressed that the fuselage of the plane had numerous perforations and that the passengers and crew members had been injured in mid-flight by foreign objects that had entered the cabin. Statements from cabin crew and surviving passengers corroborated the existence of external physical and technical interference.
He also said that at the initiative of Azerbaijan, an international team of experts was formed to conduct a detailed investigation into the causes of the accident, and this team has already started its work.
Hours earlier, the United States had declared that there were “first indications” that Russian air defense systems may have downed the plane.