Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev for what he called a \u201ctragic incident\u201d following the deadly crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane this week in Kazakhstan. The plane was flying on Wednesday from Azerbaijan\u2019s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed while attempting to land. Thirty-eight people were killed. In a statement on Saturday, the Kremlin said Russian air defence systems were firing near Grozny due to a Ukrainian drone strike, but stopped short of saying one of these hit the plane. \u201cVladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,\u201d the Kremlin said. \u201cAt that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks.\u201d Authorities across Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are investigating as speculation over what brought down the plane continues to swirl. Statements by Azerbaijani officials suggest Baku believes the plane was hit midair, while the United States has said it had \u201cearly indications\u201d Russian air defence may have been responsible for the crash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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