The apology was framed within the context of a "tragic incident" that occurred over Russian airspace during a period of tensions with Ukrainian drones.

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev over the tragic plane crash that killed nearly 38. In an official statement on Saturday, the Kremlin said its air defense systems were firing near Grozny due to a Ukrainian drone strike,

As many as 38 people died in a horrific crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane near the Aktau city in Kazakhstan earlier this week. The flight, J2-8243, carrying 62 passengers and five crew members, was supposed to fly from Baku to Grozny in Russia's Chechnya.

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight travelling from Baku to Grozny has crashed in Kazakhstan with nearly 70 passengers onboard. Several survivors are in a critical condition. Source: Radio Liberty's Kazakhstan service;

Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday 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.

"No one claims that it was done on purpose," an Azerbaijan official told Reuters. They added their government "expects the Russian side to confess."

Experts say evidence in the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan points to a possible midair explosion, not an encounter with a flock of birds.

Russians who reviewed the transcript of the crew's conversations from the Baku-Grozny flight themselves admit that the air crash was caused by their air defense systems (ADS), according to Andriy Kovalenko,

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight to the southern Russian town of Mineralnie Vody turned back to Baku on Friday after being told a chunk of airspace in southern Russia had been closed, Russia's TASS news agency reported.