Putin apologized to Aliyev for the downed passenger plane — Kremlin

President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. The leaders of the two countries discussed in detail the tragedy with the Azerbaijan Airlines plane near Aktau in Kazakhstan.

According to the Kremlin's press service, the conversation took place on December 28 at the initiative of the Russian side.

The message says that Vladimir Putin apologized for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in the airspace of Russia, and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

It was also stated in the conversation that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft repeatedly tried to land at the airport of Grozny.

It was at this very time that Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz attacked Ukrainian combat unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks.

It is indicated that the Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case under Article 263 of the Criminal Code (violation of traffic safety rules and operation of air transport). Initial investigative actions are underway, civilian and military specialists are being interrogated.

"Currently, two employees of the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan are in Grozny, where they work together with representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. The relevant services of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are working closely together at the crash site near the city of Aktau," the Kremlin's press service concluded.

Earlier, EADaily reported that Turkey sent Baku has a group of eight investigators to help investigate the causes and circumstances of the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane near the Kazakh city of Aktau.