The president of Azerbaijan says that the jetliners was shot down accidentally

The “tragic incident” involving a Russian airliner in Kazakhstan and the “air defence system” on the island of Lesvos

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.

Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, said Friday that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.

Aliyev said that the airliner crashed because of electronic warfare and fire from the ground over Russia. Aliyev said he was “surprised and angry” by the versions of events put forward by Russian officials.

The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers (miles) across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while making an attempt to land. 29 people were survivors.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said Sunday that the Azerbaijani airliner that crashed last week was shot down by Russia, albeit unintentionally, and criticized Moscow for trying to “hush up” the issue for days.

The plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and had people injured due to foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight, said Aliyev.

The crash of the aircraft on Friday, which was blamed on an external weapon by an American and an Azerbaijani minister, is similar to the Russian air defense system crash on the Ukrainian island of Lesvos.

Three people, two Russians and a pro-Russian Ukrainian man, were sentenced to death in a Dutch court in the downing of the plane with an air defence system brought into Ukraine from a Russian military base.

Putin had a conversation with Aliyev on the phone, but not on the chat room part of Putin’s conversation with Putin: a Russian state media analysis

Pesskov told Russian state media that Putin had talked to Aliyev on the phone, but did not give any details of the conversation.