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Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an apology to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev following the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J28243. Despite expressing regret, Putin did not confirm any Russian responsibility for the incident. Azerbaijan's transport minister, Rashad Nabiyev, has indicated that "external interference" was involved, suggesting potential Russian involvement.
The Kremlin stated that Putin personally called Aliyev to apologize for "the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace." During this call, Putin mentioned that Grozny was under attack by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and that Russian air defense systems were active in response. However, he stopped short of confirming whether a Russian missile had struck the aircraft.
The Kremlin also noted that the Embraer E190 was denied permission to land at a Russian airport, which forced it to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Kazakhstan while experiencing compromised flight control. The prevailing theory is that the plane was mistakenly targeted by Russian air defense systems as a Ukrainian drone.
