Azerbaijan President says crashed plane was shot at from Russia

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on Sunday that the recent passenger plane crash in Kazakhstan, which resulted in the deaths of 38 people, was caused by ground fire originating from Russian territory, according to reports by Azerbaijan's state television, as cited by news agency Reuters.

"The facts are that the Azerbaijani civilian plane was damaged from the outside over Russian territory, near the city of Grozny, and almost lost control. We also know that electronic warfare systems put our plane out of control," Aliyev told state media. "At the same time, as a result of fire from the ground, the tail of the plane was also severely damaged."

Aliyev said Baku regretted that Moscow "put forward theories" that "clearly showed the Russian side wanted to cover" up the issue. "Admitting guilt, apologising in a timely manner to Azerbaijan, which is considered a friendly country, and informing the public about this -- all these were measures and steps that should have been taken."

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.

Putin's apology came as allegations mounted that the plane had been shot down by Russian air defenses attempting to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.

An official Kremlin statement issued Saturday said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the airliner “repeatedly” attempted to land there on Wednesday. It did not explicitly say one of these hit the plane.

The statement said Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”

The readout said Russia has launched a criminal probe into the incident, and Azerbaijani state prosecutors have arrived in Grozny to participate. The Kremlin also said that “relevant services” from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are jointly investigating the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.

The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers (miles) across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while making an attempt to land. There were 29 survivors. (With inputs from agencies)