Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev that the "tragic incident" that led to Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243's crash in Kazakhstan occurred in his country's airspace, the Kremlin Press Service said on Saturday.
During their telephone conversation, Putin insisted that at the time the airplane was trying to land in Grozny, the airports in that city, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz were all under Ukrainian drone attack and that Russian defense forces were trying to repel that.
The Kremlin added in the statement that Russian and Azerbaijani relevant departments are cooperating in the investigation of the incident.