Vladimir Putin says incident occurred in Russian airspace, however doesn’t acknowledge any potential involvement of Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev for what he referred to as a “tragic incident” following the lethal crash of an Azerbaijan Airways aircraft this week in Kazakhstan.
The aircraft was flying on Wednesday from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, when it turned in the direction of Kazakhstan and crashed whereas trying to land. Thirty-eight individuals have been killed.
In a press release on Saturday, the Kremlin mentioned Russian air defence techniques have been firing close to Grozny as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike, however stopped in need of saying one among these hit the aircraft.
“Vladimir Putin apologised for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and as soon as once more expressed his deep and honest condolences to the households of the victims and wished a speedy restoration to the injured,” the Kremlin mentioned.
“At the moment, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz have been being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial automobiles, and Russian air defence techniques repelled these assaults.”
Authorities throughout Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia are investigating as hypothesis over what introduced down the aircraft continues to swirl.
Statements by Azerbaijani officers counsel Baku believes the aircraft was hit midair, whereas america has mentioned it had “early indications” Russian air defence might have been answerable for the crash.
Specialists additionally instructed Al Jazeera this week that Russian air defence officers may very probably have struck the aircraft after panicking through the Ukrainian drone assault.
They pointed to bodily injury to the plane amongst a sequence of things elevating suspicion round Moscow’s potential involvement.
The European Union’s prime diplomat, Kaja Kallas, on Saturday referred to as for a “swift, impartial worldwide investigation” into the crash.
Reporting from the Russian capital Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari famous that Putin didn’t acknowledge any function Russian forces might have had within the crash throughout his name with Aliyev.
“The Russian president [is] acknowledging for the primary time that this incident came about over Russian airspace however coming brief from admitting the likelihood that the Russian army had any half in bringing it down,” Jabbari mentioned.
She added that the incident got here amid elevated Ukrainian drone strikes and assaults on Russian territory previously weeks.
“What we are actually seeing is, after three years of this battle [between Ukraine and Russia] … increasingly, the civilian inhabitants inside Russia” is feeling that their nation is at warfare, Jabbari mentioned.
‘Exterior interference’
Aliyev, the Azerbaijani president, instructed Putin throughout their talks on Saturday that the aircraft “encountered exterior bodily and technical interference whereas in Russian airspace, leading to a whole lack of management”, the presidency mentioned in a press release.
It added that Aliyev “highlighted that the a number of holes within the plane’s fuselage, accidents sustained by passengers and crew as a result of overseas particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight, and testimonies from surviving flight attendants and passengers affirm proof of exterior bodily and technical interference”.
That was echoed by Rashan Nabiyev, the nation’s minister of digital growth and transportation, who instructed Azerbaijani media that preliminary conclusions by specialists and witness testimony “level at exterior influence”.
“The kind of weapon used within the influence can be decided through the probe,” Nabiyev mentioned.
White Home spokesperson John Kirby instructed reporters on Friday that the US has seen “some early indications that would definitely level to the likelihood that this jet was introduced down by Russian air defence techniques”.
Kirby refused to offer additional element on account of an ongoing investigation.
Responding to Kirby’s allegations, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned, “Now we have seen these statements. It’s inappropriate for the presidential administration to touch upon this.”
The Kremlin mentioned on Saturday that Russia was “intently” cooperating with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on the crash.
