Vladimir Putin admitted Saturday Russian air defence was working when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before crashing, while stopping

The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin was the closest Moscow had come to accepting some blame for Wednesday's disaster, although the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijan's leader for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people. Putin stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.

The leadership in Moscow on Friday refused to comment on claims that a Russian missile had caused Wednesday's crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet in Kazakhstan with the loss of 38 lives. Moscow was aware of statements made in Azerbaijan's capital Baku,

As many as 38 persons were killed in the deadly crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines-operated Embraer 190 plane near the Aktau city of Kazakhstan.

Putin apologized for the “tragic incident” that occurred in Russian airspace, but the Kremlin did not take responsibility for downing the Azerbaijan Airlines flight.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 crash on Christmas but did not take responsibility for causing it as an investigation continues into the matter.

The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 plane was flying from Baku to Grozny on Christmas Day when it diverted across the Caspian Sea and crash-landed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.

The Kremlin said Putin had "offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia's airspace."