Putin apologized for shooting at Azerbaijani plane
The passenger plane of the Azerbaijani airline AZAL, which crashed in the Kazakh city of Aktau on December 25, was fired upon in the airspace of the capital of Chechnya. The fact that this is a proven fact was reported by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Aliyev also called for those responsible to be held accountable. During the conversation, Putin apologized for the tragic incident. According to him, the Azerbaijani Embraer plane was trying to land at the Grozny airport. But at that time, the city was attacked by Ukrainian drones, and the Russian air defense system repelled these attacks.
The AZAL plane was damaged outside of Kazakhstan. This, in turn, was stated by the country's Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev. Azerbaijan confirmed the version that the Embraer was hit by air defense systems.
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case in connection with the crash of the airliner. Employees of the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan are in Grozny. There were 67 people on board the Embraer, of whom 42 were citizens of Azerbaijan, 16 of Russia, 6 of Kazakhstan and 3 of Kyrgyzstan. It is reported that 29 passengers survived.
