REDSTATE | Published December 29, 2024
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 Grozny airport in Chechnya.
At the time, the cities of Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were “being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defence systems repelled these attacks”, he said.
The Kremlin read-out made no direct admission that the plane had been struck by Russian missiles.
Warning: Disturbing footage:
From the above tweet:
Putin has told Aliyev that Russian air defense was active when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before it crashed.
“During this time, Grozny, (the town of) Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defense was repelling these attacks,” the Kremlin says Putin told Aliyev, without explicitly acknowledging that that Russian air defenses hit the plane.
Source: Times of Israel
There is plenty of evidence that the plane was shot down, but a formal conclusion has not yet been made.
Video and images of the plane after it crashed show perforations in its body that look similar to damage from shrapnel or debris. The cause of these holes has not been confirmed.
CNN aviation analyst Miles O’Brien explained Thursday that the fact that the metal around the holes is bent inwards shows that there was “an explosion in proximity to the tail of that aircraft.”
The US official that spoke to CNN also said that the holes on the side of the aircraft are consistent with shrapnel damage from an explosion.
Biden was as clueless as always:
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SOURCE: www.redstate.com
RELATED:: UK rejects Putin apology over deadly Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash
SKY NEWS | Published December 29, 2024
The Russian president has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” – but stopped short of taking responsibility.
The UK has rejected Vladimir Putin’s apology over the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash and called for an independent investigation.
The Russian president apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” – but stopped short of taking responsibility.
The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, when it turned and crashed in Kazakhstan while making an attempt to land on Wednesday.
Some 38 people died in the crash, while there were 29 survivors.
The Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that air defence systems were firing near Grozny because of a Ukrainian drone strike, but stopped short of saying one of these downed the plane.
According to a Kremlin readout of a call, the Russian president apologised to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace”.
The UK’s Foreign Office has called for an “full and independent” investigation into the crash, adding that Mr Putin’s apology “fails to recognise that the reckless and irresponsible actions of the Russian State pose an acute and direct threat to the interests and national security of other states.”
“Our thoughts are with all those affected by this incident, including the family and friends of those who have died,” a spokesperson added in a statement.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia “must provide clear explanations” and “stop spreading disinformation” in a call with Azerbaijan’s president.
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SOURCE: www.news.sky.com
RELATED: Putin apologizes for Azerbaijani airliner’s ‘tragic incident’
But the Russian President stops short of saying the passenger plane was shot down
Russian President Vladimir Putin —Sergei Ilyin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
THE PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER | Published December 29, 2024
MOSCOW, Russia — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people, but stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.
Putin’s apology came as allegations mounted that the plane had been shot down by Russian air defenses attempting to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike near Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.
An official Kremlin statement issued Saturday said that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the airliner “repeatedly” attempted to land there on Wednesday. It did not explicitly say one of these hit the plane.
The statement said Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace.”
The readout said Russia has launched a criminal probe into the incident, and Azerbaijani state prosecutors have arrived in Grozny to participate. The Kremlin also said that “relevant services” from Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are jointly investigating the crash site near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to Grozny when it turned toward Kazakhstan, hundreds of kilometers (miles) across the Caspian Sea from its intended destination, and crashed while making an attempt to land. There were 29 survivors.
According to a readout of the call provided by Aliyev’s press office, the Azerbaijani president told Putin that the plane was subject to “external physical and technical interference,” although he also stopped short of blaming Russian air defenses.
Aliyev noted that the plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had sustained injuries “due to foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight.”
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SOURCE: www.globalnation.inquirer.net
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