MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday for what he described as a “tragic incident” after the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan, which claimed the lives of 38 people.

The crash occurred on Wednesday when the plane, en route from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, diverted toward Kazakhstan and crashed during an attempted landing. Of the 67 passengers and crew on board, 29 survived.

In an official Kremlin statement, Russian air defense systems were reportedly active near Grozny at the time due to a Ukrainian drone strike.

However, the statement stopped short of confirming whether the air defense systems directly caused the crash.

According to a Kremlin readout, Putin expressed regret to Aliyev, saying, “I apologize for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”

On Friday, U.S. and Azerbaijani officials suggested that an external weapon might have caused the crash.

White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby and Azerbaijan’s Digital Development and Transport Minister Rashan Nabiyev both pointed to Russian air defenses as a likely factor, echoing aviation experts who have suggested the crash may have resulted from air defense activity during a Ukrainian attack.

Passengers and crew who survived the crash reported hearing loud noises aboard the aircraft as it circled over Grozny, further fueling speculation about the role of air defense systems in the incident.

Despite these claims, neither Kirby nor Nabiyev explicitly addressed the Kremlin’s assertion that air defenses were active but stopped short of directly blaming them for the crash.

The tragic incident has raised tensions and highlighted the potential risks of active military operations near civilian air routes. Investigations into the exact cause of the crash remain ongoing. — Agencies