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Following the fatal crash of an Azerbaijani airliner, Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev for the "tragic incident." According to a statement from the Kremlin on Saturday, Putin apologized to Aliyev by phone for "the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace." The Kremlin said air defense systems opened fire near the Chechen regional capital Grozny on Wednesday due to a Ukrainian drone attack. However, it did not admit that one of these systems hit the plane. The plane was en route from the Azerbaijani capital to Grozny on Wednesday. The plane turned towards Kazakhstan and crashed while attempting to land there. 38 people were killed in the crash, and the other 29 passengers survived with injuries. Azerbaijan and the US government attributed the incident to an external weapon. Azerbaijani Transport Minister Rashad Nabiyev said on Friday: "Preliminary conclusions of experts indicate an external impact." The same applies to witness statements. "The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the investigation," said Nabiyev. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US knew of "early signs that certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems." However, he did not want to go into detail, citing ongoing investigations. Survivors told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the plane as it was circling over Grozny. Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli said that after a noise, the oxygen masks on the plane were automatically lowered. She gave first aid to flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov, then another bang was heard. It sounded as if something had hit the plane from outside, Asadov reported. He rejected Kazakh authorities' statements that an oxygen bottle on board the plane had exploded. #weltnetzreporter #azerbaijan #putin #planecrash Subscribe to the WELT Netzreporter Channel / dienetzreporter WELT Nachrichtensender Channel / weltvideotv WELT DOKU Channel / weltdoku WELT Podcast Channel / weltpodcast The WELT news livestream http://bit.ly/2fwuMPg The top news on WELT.de http://bit.ly/2rQQD9Q The media library on WELT.de http://bit.ly/2Iydxv8 WELT Nachrichtensender on Instagram https://bit.ly/IGWELTTV WELT on Instagram http://bit.ly/2X1M7Hk On a personal note: Due to the high volume of irrelevant and offensive posts, we are currently unable to accept any more comments. Thank you for your understanding - the WELT team The video was created in 2023