Putin Confirms Russian Missile Involvement in 2024 Azerbaijan Airlines Crash That Killed 38

Russia's President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Thursday that his country was involved in the 2024 Azerbaijani passenger aircraft crash, describing the incident as a "tragedy".

The Azerbaijan Airlines flight made a crash landing in Kazakhstan on December 25, resulting in 38 fatalities among the 67 people aboard, after being redirected from its scheduled landing at Grozny in southern Russia.

During a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Putin revealed that Russia had deployed two missiles to neutralize Ukrainian drones on the morning of the incident, and these missiles detonated "a few meters away" from the aircraft.

"The two missiles that were fired did not directly impact the aircraft. Had that occurred, the plane would have crashed immediately," Putin stated.

According to Putin, Russian air traffic controllers advised the pilot to attempt landing in Makhachkala, Russia, but the pilot instead tried to return to his home airport before ultimately landing in Kazakhstan, where the aircraft crashed.

"Russia will undertake all necessary measures in such tragic situations to provide compensation, and all officials' actions will undergo legal assessment," Putin assured.

President Aliyev had previously accused Russia of attempting to conceal the actual cause of the crash.

On Thursday, he expressed gratitude to Putin for providing "detailed information about the tragedy," according to the Kremlin's statement.

Initial reports from Russia's air transport agency had suggested that the Embraer 190 aircraft was forced to divert due to a bird strike.

Russia's handling of the incident significantly deteriorated relations with Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet state that historically maintained close ties with Moscow.