The Kremlin said on Saturday that air defense systems were operating near Grozny in Chechnya as the plane attempted to land as Ukraine carried out a drone attack on the region. At the same time, the Kremlin did not confirm that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.
As the Kremlin informed, Putin apologized to Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace”.
In a telephone conversation, Aliyev told Putin that the plane crash was related to “external physical and technical intervention” over Russia.
“President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that the passenger plane of Azerbaijan Airlines, while in the Russian airspace, encountered external physical and technical disturbances, as a result of which it completely lost control,” said the statement of the office of the President of Azerbaijan.
It added that Aliyev “stressed to Putin that the numerous holes in the plane’s fuselage, the injuries sustained by the passengers and crew as a result of foreign objects entering the cabin during the flight, and the testimony of the surviving flight attendants and passengers confirm evidence of external physical and technical intervention.”
The European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Security and Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, on Saturday called for a “quick, independent” investigation into the plane crash.
In his post on the “X” platform, he said that what happened was a “bitter reminder” of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The plane with 298 people on board, all of whom died, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired by Russian-backed rebels.
On Friday, Azerbaijan’s Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev and White House National Security Council Press Secretary John Kirby confirmed in separate statements that the crash was caused by a foreign weapon.
Statements by Nabiyev and the White House are consistent with initial assumptions by aviation experts that the plane was hit by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.
Neither the Azerbaijani minister nor Kirby commented directly on the impact of the air defenses.
29 people survived the accident. Surviving passengers and crew members told the media that they heard loud noises as the plane circled over Grozny.