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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that Russia played a role in the 2024 crash of an Azerbaijani passenger plane, calling the incident a “tragedy.”
The Azerbaijan Airlines flight crash-landed in Kazakhstan on December 25, killing 38 of the 67 people aboard, after being diverted from its original landing in Grozny, southern Russia.
Speaking during a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Putin explained that Russia had fired two missiles to intercept Ukrainian drones on the morning of the crash, and that the projectiles detonated “a few metres away” from the aircraft.
“The two missiles that were fired did not directly hit the aircraft. If that had happened, it would have crashed on the spot,” he said.
Putin added that Russian air traffic controllers advised the pilot to attempt a landing in Makhachkala, but the crew instead tried to land at their home airport before diverting to Kazakhstan, where the plane ultimately went down.
He assured that Russia would provide compensation and that the actions of all officials involved would be legally evaluated.
Aliyev, who had previously accused Moscow of concealing the cause of the crash, expressed gratitude for the new information provided by Putin, according to a Kremlin statement.
Initial reports from Russia’s air transport agency had attributed the diversion to a bird strike.
The incident had severely strained relations between Azerbaijan, a strategically important oil-producing nation, and Russia, which has historically maintained close ties with Baku.
