President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia’s air defenses were to blame for downing an Azerbaijani jetliner in December that killed 38 people, his first admission.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia’s air defenses were to blame for downing an Azerbaijani jetliner in December that killed 38 people, his first admission of responsibility for the crash in an effort to ease tensions between the neighbors. Putin said the missiles fired by Russian air defenses to target a Ukrainian drone exploded near the Azerbaijan Airlines plane flying from Baku as it was preparing to land in Grozny, Chechnya, on Christmas Day last year. Ukrainian drones have regularly struck deep inside Russia. Speaking at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe, Putin pledged to punish those responsible and provide compensation, reports the AP.
