Russia's Vladimir Putin has apologised to Azerbaijan's president for a "tragic incident" which happened in Russian airspace involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that crashed after air defences were used against Ukrainian drones.

The Kremlin said Russian air defenses were active when an Azerbaijan Airlines plane tried landing in Grozny, with the Russian president apologizing that the "tragic incident" happened in Russian airspace.

MOSCOW: Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday (Dec 28) apologised to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, for a "tragic incident" which happened in Russian airspace involving an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that

Russia's leader Vladimir Putin has called Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev to say sorry for Russian air defences firing at the plane which crash landed in Kazakhstan killing 38 people

The crash killed 38, leaving at least 29 survivors.

The comments echo outside aviation experts who blamed the deadly crash on Russian air defense systems responding to a Ukrainian attack

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the deadly plane crash.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told the Azerbaijani leader, Ilham Aliyev, in a phone call, “that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace.”

Russian air defense systems may have brought down an Azerbaijani airliner this week, a U.S. official said Friday after an Azerbaijani minister also suggested the plane was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor accounts. Friday's assessments by Rashan Nabiyev and White House national security spokesman John Kirby…

Russian President Putin apologizes for tragic incident after Azerbaijani airliner crash in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people.