President Putin Apologies to His Azerbaijani Counterpart for Aircraft Incident in Russian Airspace
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: EFE/EPA/ALEXEI DANICHEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL MANDATORY CREDIT
December 28, 2024 Hour: 1:31 pm
Russian President Vladimir Putin today apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, for the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) passenger plane aircraft in Russian airspace on last Wednesday in Kazakhstan.
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“Vladimir Putin offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia’s airspace and once again conveyed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the plane crash victims and wished those injured the quickest recovery,” the Kremlin’s press office said in a statement.
During the telephone conversation of both heads of state it was detailed that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft flew according to schedule and repeatedly attempted to land at the airport in the city of Grozny, in the South-West of the Russian Federation.
“At that time, Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were attacked by Ukrainian combat unmanned aerial vehicles, and the Russian air defense media were repelling these attacks,” the statement notes.
The communiqué indicates that the Russian Investigation Committee has opened a criminal case under article 263 of the country’s Penal Code on violation of air transport safety and operation rules, adding that now civilian and military specialists are being questioned.
Meanwhile, two officials of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan are in Grozny, working in cooperation with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Russian Investigation Committee. Besides, “the specialized services of Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are cooperating closely at the site of the disaster, near the city of Aktau,” the statement said.
On Friday, the head of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia), Dmitry Yadrov, said that the situation was “very difficult” at Grozny airport when the Embraer aircraft of the Azerbaijani airline tried to land, due Ukrainian drones attack, carrying out terrorist attacks against civilian infrastructure in the cities of Grozny and Vladikavkaz.
President Putin also talked to the Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, exchanging condolences and noting that experts from Russia, Azerbaijan and Brazil for them to read the flight recorders found at the crash site.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: TASS // RT // EFE // en.kremlin.ru