Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani plane in Kazakhstan in which 38 people died.
Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 8243, an Embraer 190 aircraft, was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to the city of Grozny in Russia’s North Caucasus region on Wednesday when it diverted for unknown reasons that are still not entirely clear.
It crashed while trying to reach Aktau airport in western Kazakhstan. Mobile phone images appear to show the plane making a steep descent before hitting the ground and exploding in a fireball about 3 kilometers from Aktau airport.
The airline said 67 people were on board — 62 passengers and five crew members — and 38 people died in the crash. There were 29 survivors.
A Kremlin official released Saturday said air defense systems fired near Grozny airport when the plane “repeatedly” tried to land there on Wednesday. It was not explicitly indicated that any of them had collided with the plane.
Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace. “
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized 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,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Said Russia launched a criminal investigation into the incident and Azerbaijani prosecutors arrived in Grozny to participate. The Kremlin also said that the “relevant services” of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were jointly investigating the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
Putin’s call to Aliyev came after speculation grew that Russian air defense might have shot down the plane.
The Kremlin said the call took place at Putin’s request.
According to a readout of the call provided by Aliyev’s press office, the Azerbaijani president told Putin that the plane was subject to “external physical and technical interference,” although he also stopped short of blaming Russian air defenses.
Aliyev noted that the aircraft had several holes in its fuselage and that the occupants were injured “due to foreign debris the cabin in mid-flight. “
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia have opened an investigation into the causes of the accident. The Kremlin suggested to others not to jump to conclusions. Investigators recovered the two black boxes, flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the crash site.
On Friday, a U.S. official and an Azerbaijani minister made separate statements blaming the crash on an external weapon.
A U. S. official told CBS News there were early indications that a Russian anti-aircraft missile could have targeted the plane in a region where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been exchanging drone and rocket fire for months. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that, if true, it would further highlight Russia’s recklessness in its current invasion of Ukraine.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday that U.S. officials “have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems.”
He said the United States had intelligence or data suggesting that possibility, but said Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan were ultimately leading the investigation and the United States would “respect that process. “
Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane as it flew over Grozny.