Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Safety Council assembly through videoconference on the Kremlin in Moscow, on Saturday.
Sergei Ilyin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photograph through AP
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Sergei Ilyin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photograph through AP
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he referred to as a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 individuals, however stopped wanting acknowledging that Moscow was accountable.
Putin’s apology got here amid mounting allegations that the airplane had been shot down by Russian air defenses making an attempt to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike close to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
An official Kremlin assertion issued on Saturday stated that air protection techniques have been firing close to Grozny airport because the airliner “repeatedly” tried to land there on Wednesday. It didn’t explicitly say one in all these hit the airplane.
The assertion stated Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”
The readout stated Russia has launched a felony probe into the incident, and Azerbaijani state prosecutors have arrived in Grozny to take part. The Kremlin additionally stated that “relevant services” from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are collectively investigating the crash web site close to the town of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The airplane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned towards Kazakhstan, tons of of kilometers (miles) throughout the Caspian Sea from its meant vacation spot, and crashed whereas attempting to land. There have been 29 survivors.
On this picture taken from a video launched by the administration of Mangystau area, part of Azerbaijan Airways’ Embraer 190 lies on the bottom close to the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Thursday.
The Administration of Mangystau/AP
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The Administration of Mangystau/AP
In keeping with a readout of the decision supplied by Aliyev’s press workplace, the Azerbaijani president informed Putin that the airplane was topic to “external physical and technical interference,” though he additionally stopped wanting blaming Russian air defenses.
Aliyev famous that the airplane had a number of holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had sustained accidents “due to foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight.”
On Friday, a U.S. official and an Azerbaijani minister made separate statements blaming the crash on an exterior weapon, echoing these made by aviation consultants who blamed the crash on Russian air protection techniques responding to a Ukrainian assault.
Passengers and crew who survived the crash informed Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane because it was circling over Grozny.
Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, stated Friday that because the airplane was getting ready to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones have been focusing on the town, prompting authorities to shut the world to air visitors.
Yadrov stated that after the captain made two unsuccessful makes an attempt to land, he was supplied different airports however determined to fly to Aktau.
Earlier within the week, Rosaviatsia had cited unspecified early proof as exhibiting {that a} fowl strike led to an emergency on board.
Within the days following the crash, Azerbaijan Airways blamed “physical and technical interference” and introduced the suspension of flights to a number of Russian airports. It did not say the place the interference got here from or present any additional particulars.
