Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to the President of Azerbaijan for the crash of the civilian airliner that killed 38 folks, the Kremlin stated Saturday.
“Vladimir Putin apologized for the truth that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace,” the Kremlin stated.
The airliner had “repeatedly tried to land” on the Grozny airport, Putin instructed Ilham Aliyev, which on the time was being “attacked by Ukrainian combat drones.”
Russian air protection methods “repelled these assaults,” Putin stated.
He didn’t say if the aircraft was hit by Russian air defenses however Kremlin stated that an investigation was underway and civilian and navy specialists had been being interrogated.
Two U.S. navy officers instructed NBC News on Friday that the aircraft could have been hit by Russian missiles, saying they’d intelligence indicating that Russians could have misidentified the aircraft and shot it down.
The intelligence steered that Russians believed the airliner was a drone, partly due to irregular flight sample, the officers stated.
The Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft crash landed close to town of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Christmas day, killing 38 of the 67 on board.
The Embraer 190 skilled “bodily and technical exterior interference,” the provider stated Friday, whereas the aircraft was en route from the Azerbaijan capital Baku, to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, Russia.
