Vladimir Putin admitted Saturday Russian air defence was working when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before crashing, breaking the Kremlin's silence as speculation mounted Russia may have accidentally shot the plane.

The Kremlin said Putin had "offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia's airspace."

"No one claims that it was done on purpose," an Azerbaijan official told Reuters. They added their government "expects the Russian side to confess."

Experts say evidence in the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan points to a possible midair explosion, not an encounter with a flock of birds.

Russians who reviewed the transcript of the crew's conversations from the Baku-Grozny flight themselves admit that the air crash was caused by their air defense systems (ADS), according to Andriy Kovalenko,

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight to the southern Russian town of Mineralnie Vody turned back to Baku on Friday after being told a chunk of airspace in southern Russia had been closed, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

Good morning. Russian air defenses reportedly damaged the Azerbaijan Airlines plane before it crashed. Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen. And want to live next to Jeff Bezos? A $200 million lot is up for sale.

Aviation experts say that Russian air defense fire was likely responsible for the Azerbaijani plane crash the day before that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.