Russian President Vladimir Putin (Grigory Sysoyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Associated Press Reporter
Associated PressThu 9 Oct 2025 at 14:51
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia’s air defences were responsible for shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner in December that killed 38 people in his first admission of blame for the crash.
Mr Putin made the statement at a meeting with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe, where both are attending a summit of the former Soviet nations.
The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet crashed on December 25 2024 while on a flight from Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Azerbaijani authorities said the jet was accidentally hit by fire from Russian air defences, then tried to land in western Kazakhstan when it crashed, killing 38 of 67 people aboard.