President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told the Azerbaijani leader, Ilham Aliyev, in a phone call, “that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace.”

Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday, admitted that his country’s air defence was working when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before crashing, breaking the Kremlin’s silence as speculation mount that Russia may have accidentally shot the plane.

Vladimir Putin has apologised for the Azerbaijan Airlines crash but stopped short of accepting responsibility for what he described as a “tragic incident.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin extended an apology to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday over a "tragic incident" involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed in Russian airspace on Wednesday.

Vladimir Putin apologised in a telephone conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the "tragic incident" involving an Azerbaijani plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Much of the information provided by Russian media or government representatives is propaganda.

Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, likely caused by Russian air defense, shines light on a glaring issue the Kremlin has long swept under the rug.

Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, for a "tragic incident" which happened in Russian airspace involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people, the Kremlin reported on Dec. 28. The Kremlin press service released a briefing detailing a call between Putin and Aliyev,