Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized for the fact that an Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed after entering Russian airspace, but did not say whether Russia was responsible for the incident.
The Kremlin press office confirmed in a statement on Saturday that Russia’s air defense systems were active when the plane attempted to land in Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic. On Dec. 25, the aircraft was unable to reach the airport and diverted eastward, ultimately crash landing near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing at least 38 of the 67 passengers onboard.
