The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has apologized to his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, because the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 109 plane occurred in Russian territory. although at no time has it admitted responsibility for a hypothetical demolition of the deviceas the White House hinted yesterday.
On Christmas Day, an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 plane covering the Baku-Grozny route crashed three kilometers from the airport in the Kazakh city of Aktau, leaving 38 dead and 29 injured, most of them seriously.
Just after a couple of hours of flight, the plane requested an emergency landing. Due to thick fog in Grozny, it was diverted first to Makhachkala, Russian Dagestan, and then to Aktau, where it eventually crashed.
Putin has estimated that Ukrainian drones were attacking the Russian region of Grozny, where the plane attempted to land on several occasions shortly before the incident.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat unmanned aerial vehicles, repelled by the Russian defense system,” according to the Kremlin statement.
Currently two employees of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan are in Grozny, where they work together with representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
The relevant services of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are closely cooperating at the disaster site near the city of Aktau.
