Vladimir Putin refers to the Azerbaijani jet crash as a "tragedy" and acknowledges Russia's involvement for the first time

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the 2024 crash of an Azerbaijani passenger airliner a "tragedy" and for the first time admitted his nation's involvement in it on Thursday, according to AFP. 38 of the 67 passengers and crew members on board the Azerbaijan Airlines flight perished in the catastrophe that occurred near Kazakhstan on December 25. This happened following its detour from its intended landing in Grozny, a city in southern Russia.

Putin apologized to Aliyev for what he called a "tragic incident" a few days after the crash, but he refused to take blame. Aliyev, meanwhile, attacked Moscow for trying to "stifle" the incident. Putin said that Russia had fired two missiles at Ukrainian drones the morning of the incident, and that the missiles exploded “a few meters away” from the aircraft during a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The airplane was not struck directly by the two fired missiles. It would have crashed immediately if that had occurred, according to Putin, who was quoted by AFP. According to Putin, the pilot tried to land at his home airport and then in Kazakhstan, where the plane finally came to a stop, despite Russian air traffic authorities' suggestion that he try to land in Makhachkala. "Russia will do everything necessary in such tragic cases to provide compensation, and the actions of all officials will be legally assessed," stated Putin.