Putin Issues Rare Apology, Compensation For Azerbaijan Airline Disaster

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a rare statement of regret after acknowledging Russia’s role in the downing of an Azerbaijani Airlines flight traveling from Baku to Grozny on December 25, 2024.

Putin informed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan that Moscow will compensate Azerbaijan for its role in accidentally shooting down an Azerbaijani passenger plane. The incident brought relations between the two countries to a low-point.

After being struck by a Russian missile, the pilots attempted an emergency landing in western Kazakhstan, but the plane went down, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.

Putin had previously apologized for the “tragic incident” – but this marks the first time he is saying formally that Russia takes responsibility, and is seeking to mend ties with Baku.

Azerbaijani officials had accused Russia of refusing the aircraft permission to land on its territory after it was hit, forcing the badly damaged aircraft to extend its time in the air further.

“Of course, 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 in a face-to-face meeting, which was the first in a year since the incident happened. “It is our duty, I repeat once again … to give an objective assessment of everything that happened and to identify the true causes.”

According to a summary of Putin’s explanation of the crash:

The Russian president informed Aliyev that an incursion of three Ukrainian drones was the root cause of the tragedy, with one of them still in the air when the AZAL flight 8243 was damaged. According to Putin, the plane was “most likely hit by debris” from a missile that self-destructed in the air.

The incident took place near Grozny, Russia. The crew tried to divert the flight, but the plane eventually crash-landed in Kazakhstan.

So essentially among the causes Putin blamed a cross-border Ukrainian drone incursion in the context of the war in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that a Russian air defense system was responsible for the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet that killed 38 people in December (translation via AP) https://t.co/agQ3g6rLig pic.twitter.com/A1LzSpnrsP

— Bloomberg (@business) October 9, 2025

The Azerbaijani president then thanked Putin, expressing “gratitude for the extensive information on the last year’s December tragedy.”

“You are personally keeping the investigation process under control and we have no doubt that it will establish all the facts in an unbiased manner,” he told Putin. Both countries appear eager to put the tragedy behind them, and advance relations further.