President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Azerbaijan’s chief for a “tragic incident,” through which an Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses focusing on Ukrainian drones.
The extraordinarily uncommon publicized apology from Putin was the closest Moscow had come to accepting some blame for Wednesday’s catastrophe though the Kremlin assertion didn’t say Russia had shot down the aircraft, solely noting {that a} prison case had been opened.
Flight J2-8243, en route from Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny, crash-landed close to Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday after diverting from southern Russia, the place Ukrainian drones have been reported to be attacking a number of cities. At least 38 folks have been killed.
Four sources with data of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan’s investigation instructed Reuters on Thursday that Russian air defenses had mistakenly shot the airliner down. Passengers mentioned they heard a loud bang outdoors the aircraft.
Putin known as President Ilham Aliyev and “apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Kremlin mentioned.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks.”
The Kremlin mentioned civilian and navy specialists have been being questioned.
Putin additionally phoned Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, his counterpart in Kazakhstan, to specific his condolences over the lack of life within the crash, the Kremlin mentioned.
On Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden responded to a shouted query about whether or not Putin ought to take accountability for the crash whereas he was leaving church in St. Croix within the U.S. Virgin Islands, the place he’s on trip.
“Apparently he did, but I haven’t spoken to him or my team,” Biden replied.
The White House mentioned Friday it had seen early indications suggesting the airliner was probably introduced down by Russian air protection techniques and added that Washington had supplied help to the investigation into the crash.
MSNBC on Friday cited two unidentified U.S. navy sources as saying that there was American intelligence that Russia might have mistakenly shot down the airliner after misidentifying it as an incoming drone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy additionally mentioned he had known as Aliyev to supply condolences and in his assertion on the X platform demanded that Russia present “clear explanations.”
Azerbaijan for its half mentioned Aliyev had famous to Putin that the aircraft had been “subjected to external physical and technical interference in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control and redirection to the Kazakh city of Aktau.”
Until Saturday, Russia’s final working day earlier than a protracted New Year vacation, the Kremlin had mentioned it was improper to touch upon the incident earlier than official investigations have been concluded.
The Embraer jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya area, the place the incident occurred, after which traveled, badly broken, one other 450 kilometers (280 miles) throughout the Caspian Sea.
Footage shot by passengers earlier than the aircraft crashed confirmed oxygen masks down and other people sporting life jackets. Later movies confirmed bloodied and bruised passengers climbing out of the wreckage. There have been 29 survivors.
Baku cited accidents from objects that had penetrated the plane’s fuselage from outdoors and testimonies from survivors as proof of “external physical and technical interference.”
The crash underscored the dangers to civil aviation even when plane are flying a whole bunch of miles from a warfare zone, particularly when Ukraine has deployed drones en masse to attempt to hit again at Russia behind the entrance traces.
Russia makes use of digital jamming to confuse the geolocation and communication techniques of Ukrainian drones, which it additionally targets with air protection techniques.
In 2020, Iranian Revolutionary Guards mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 on board.
And in 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over jap Ukraine, with the lack of 298 passengers and crew, by what Dutch investigators mentioned was a Russian BUK missile system. Russia denied involvement.
Source: www.dailysabah.com