Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Saturday, according to the Kremlin, that Russian air defense was in action on Wednesday when an Azerbaijani plane attempted to land, an aircraft which crashed shortly after in Kazakhstan.
Mr. Putin noted, in a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev, that “the Azerbaijani airliner had repeatedly attempted to land at Grozny airport. At the same time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian air defenses repelled these attacks“.
The Russian president, however, did not indicate whether the plane had been hit by these defenses. Since Wednesday’s disaster, suspicion has focused on Russia, which may have accidentally shot down the plane.
If Mr. Putin therefore did not recognize Russia’s responsibility on Saturday, he nevertheless apologized to Mr. Aliev. “Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident taking place in Russian airspace“, the Kremlin said.
Earlier, his spokesperson Dmitri Peskov had refused to comment on the White House’s comments which had mentioned a Russian anti-aircraft defense shot.
In a telephone interview this Saturday with his Azerbaijani counterpart, the master of the Kremlin indicated that “the Azerbaijani airliner had repeatedly attempted to land at Grozny airport”, the capital of Chechnya, its destination, in the Russian Caucasus. But “at the same time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat drones, and Russian anti-aircraft defenses repelled these attacks”he said, according to a press release from the Russian presidency.
For his part, the Azerbaijani president stressed that the plane had been hit “in Russian airspace” par “external physical interference”, supporting the theory of a shot without formally accusing Russia, a regional power with which Baku maintains close relations.
M. Aliev “stressed that the multiple holes in the fuselage of the plane, the injuries suffered by the passengers and crew (…) as well as the testimonies of the flight attendants and the surviving passengers confirm the evidence of a external physical and technical interference”the Azerbaijani presidency said in a statement summarizing a conversation between the two presidents.
In addition, several Western experts believe that the images showing a fuselage riddled with holes suggest such a strike. On Wednesday, an Embraer 190 plane of the Azerbaijani company Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Aktau, in western Kazakhstan, on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, while the plane was supposed to connect Baku to Grozny, on the opposite bank .
“An explosion”
These comments come after several days of speculation on the causes of the incident, the holes in the cabin suggesting an anti-aircraft missile strike.
The White House assured Friday that it had“preliminary indications that suggest the possibility that this aircraft was shot down by Russian air defense systems”.
Shortly before the conversation between Mr. Aliev and Mr. Putin, the Kremlin had judged “inappropriate” to comment on these remarks, arguing about the ongoing investigation.
Thirty-eight of the 67 people on board the plane were killed when the plane crashed and caught fire.
EU calls for ‘rapid and independent’ investigation
We learned this Saturday afternoon that the European Union is calling for an investigation “fast and independent” on the Azerbaijan Airlines crash, after the United States suggested the incident may have been caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
“I call for a rapid and independent international investigation”wrote the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, on “a brutal reminder” of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, shot down by a pro-Russian rebel missile over Ukraine in 2014.
Plane crash Kazakhstan Azerbaijan Airlines
