Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Saturday by phone for the downing of a commercial airliner Wednesday in Russian airspace. Thirty-eight people perished in the tragedy.
However, the Russian president refused to take responsibility for the “tragic incident,” which is believed to have occurred when the aircraft came under fire from Russian air defenses as it tried to land in the Russian region of Chechnya. Instead, it was forced to divert across the Caspian Sea.
The Kremlin issued a statement:
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologised that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” it said.
In the rare publicised apology, Putin also acknowledged the plane had repeatedly tried to land at…
