Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday (December 28) dialed in Azeri president to apologise for the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash which resulted in the loss of 38 lives.

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The Kremlin in an official statement said that Russian air defence forces were defending Ukrainian drone attacks when the aircraft was trying to land in Grozny in Russia.

Also read: Azerbaijan Airlines crash: How Chechnya-bound plane crashed in Kazakhstan

“The Azerbaijani passenger aircraft, which was travelling according to its schedule, repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport. At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

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"(President) Vladimir 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," it added.
The official statement from Kremlin,however, did not say that the plane had been struck by a Russian missile.

President Vladimir Putin also called for an "objective and transparent" investigation into the crash, as per the Kremlin statement.

"The Kazakh government commission tasked with investigating all the details of the incident will call on Russian, Azerbaijani and Brazilian experts... This work carried out on the Kazakhstan's territory will be objective and transparent," said the Kremlin.

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Also read: Azerbaijan Airlines crash: Airline says plane crashed due to 'external interference'
As per Azerbaijan's presidential office, Azeri president, Ilham Aliyev said that the plane was "subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau."
Earlier Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had called for a "thorough investigation" into the crash.

"We can see how the clear visual evidence at the crash site points to Russia's responsibility for the tragedy. If Russia decides to spread lies in the same way that it did in the #MH17 case, we will need to consolidate all international pressure on Moscow in order to establish the truth and ensure accountability," he said in a post on social media platform X.

Azerbaijan plane crash: What we know?

In the early hours of Christmas Day, Flight J2-8243 departed from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, carrying 67 passengers. The plane was scheduled to land in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, a Russian region where Ukrainian drones were targeting multiple cities. However, the aircraft was diverted to Aktau, a city in Kazakhstan, where it crashed.

(With inputs from agencies)