Russian President Vladimir Putin has given details to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev about how two Russian anti-aircraft missiles exploded next to an Azerbaijan Airlines plane last year after Ukrainian planes entered Russian airspace, promising compensation for those affected, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Today, President Putin met with Aliyev at the government residence “Kohi Somon“ in Dushanbe, where a CIS meeting is taking place. Their last bilateral meeting was in October 2024, TASS recalled.
Today's videos show Putin and Aliyev greeting and smiling before their bilateral meeting, during which Putin also touched on the plane crash. Last year, Putin made an unusual public apology to Aliyev for what the Kremlin called a "tragic incident" over Russia, in which the plane crashed after Russian air defenses were activated to intercept Ukrainian drones.
“Of course, everything that is required in such tragic cases will be done by the Russian side in terms of compensation and a legal assessment of the entire official matter will be given,“ Putin told Aliyev. “This is our duty. I repeat… "We will give an objective assessment of everything that happened and reveal the real reasons," he added.
Putin told Aliyev that two Russian anti-aircraft missiles exploded a few meters from the plane after the Ukrainian drones entered Russian airspace.
Flight J2-8243, traveling from Baku to the Chechen capital Grozny, crashed on December 25 near Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia, where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several targets. Thirty-eight people died. Aliyev then publicly criticized Moscow's initial response, which he said was aimed at covering up the cause of the incident.