Russian President Vladimir Putin has admitted that Russian missiles detonated near an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane last year, causing the crash that killed 38 people.
The admission marks the Kremlin’s clearest acknowledgement to date that Moscow’s air defences were responsible for the tragedy.
Speaking to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during a meeting in Tajikistan on Thursday, Putin expressed renewed condolences and said Russia would provide compensation to those affected.
“Everything that is required in such tragic cases will be done by the Russian side on compensation, and a legal assessment of all official things will be given,” Putin told Aliyev.
“It is our duty, I repeat once again… to give an objective assessment of everything that happened and to identify the true causes.”
Missiles exploded near the plane, Putin says
Putin detailed the sequence of events leading to the crash, saying that two Russian air defence missiles exploded several metres away from the aircraft after Ukrainian drones entered Russian airspace.
“The two missiles that were launched did not hit the plane directly; if that had happened, it would have crashed on the spot, but they exploded, perhaps as a self-destruction measure, a few metres away, about 10 metres,” Putin said.
“And so the damage was caused, mainly not by the warheads, but most likely by the debris from the missiles themselves.”
He added that the pilot initially believed the impact came from a flock of birds, a report later confirmed by recordings in the aircraft’s black boxes.
Crash killed 38, sparked diplomatic strain
Flight J2-8243, an Embraer jet traveling from Baku to Grozny, was struck on December 25 last year after diverting from southern Russia amid reported Ukrainian drone attacks.
The plane, heavily damaged, crash-landed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing at least 38 people.
A preliminary Kazakh government report published in February found the fuselage was riddled with holes consistent with external impact.
Putin first issued a public apology to Aliyev shortly after the crash, describing it as a “tragic incident.”
His latest comments go further, explicitly attributing the cause to Russian missile detonations.
Aliyev accepts the apology
Aliyev, who had previously criticised Moscow’s handling of the investigation, thanked Putin on Thursday for revisiting the matter.
“I would like to express my gratitude once again for the fact that you deemed it necessary to highlight this issue at our meeting,” Aliyev said.
Putin cautioned that a full inquiry into the incident would “probably take some more time,” but reaffirmed that Moscow would issue a comprehensive legal and technical assessment.
The admission appears to mark a step toward closure in a case that strained ties between the two countries and raised concerns over Russia’s air defence operations.
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