MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia’s air defense were to blame for downing an Azerbaijani jetliner in December that killed 38 people, his first admission of responsibility for the crash in an apparent bid to ease tensions between the neighbors.
Putin said the missiles fired by Russian air defenses to target a Ukrainian drone exploded near the Azerbaijani Airlines plane flying from Baku as it was preparing to land in Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Dec. 25, 2024. Ukrainian drones have regularly struck deep inside Russia.
Speaking at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe, where both arrived to attend a summit of the former Soviet nations, Putin pledged to punish those responsible and provide compensation for the victims.
Azerbaijani authorities said the jet was accidentally hit by fire from Russian air defenses, then tried to land in western Kazakhstan, where it crashed and killed 38 of 67 people aboard.
Days after the crash, Putin apologized to Aliyev for what he called a “tragic incident” but stopped short of acknowledging responsibility. Aliyev, meanwhile, criticized Moscow for trying to “hush up” the incident.
The controversy over the crash has roiled the previously warm ties between Moscow and Baku. Their relations were further destabilized by deaths of ethnic Azerbaijanis rounded up by police in a Russian city in June and a series of arrests of Russians in Azerbaijan.
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