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Tengrinews.kz – Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the AZAL plane crash near Aktau with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev during a meeting in Dushanbe, ahead of the "Central Asia – Russia" summit, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing Minval.
According to the report, Putin began their conversation by addressing the recent tragedy involving an AZAL plane. He reminded Aliyev that he had already offered his apologies for the crash of the Azerbaijani airline's plane in Russian airspace.
"Overall, we need to talk about the causes of this tragedy. It is related to several factors. The first is that Russia was tracking three Ukrainian drones that crossed the Russian border at night. The second reason is technical malfunctions in Russia’s air defense system," said Putin.
The Russian president clarified that the two missiles fired by the air defense system did not directly hit the AZAL plane but exploded several meters, approximately ten, away from it. According to Putin, Russia, in line with agreements, is offering full assistance to the investigation into the plane crash.
"The AZAL plane was most likely hit by debris rather than the explosive warheads," Putin stated.
He also noted that the plane's crew was offered to land in Makhachkala but decided to head to their designated base airport instead.
Putin reassured Aliyev that Russia would give a legal assessment of the actions of all officials involved in the AZAL plane crash but emphasized that final conclusions would take time.
AZAL Plane Crash
It is important to note that the AZAL passenger plane, an Embraer 190 flying from Baku to Grozny, crashed on the morning of December 25, 2024, near Aktau in western Kazakhstan. There were 67 people on board, including five crew members. Thirty-eight people died, and 29 survived.
The crash investigation, in accordance with ICAO convention, is being led by Kazakhstan. Experts from Azerbaijan, Russia, international specialists, and representatives from Embraer are also involved in the investigation.
Azerbaijani media, along with Euronews and Reuters, have published reports discussing the possibility that Russia’s air defense systems were one of the causes of the crash.
