MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russia's air defences were responsible for shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner in December that killed 38 people in his first admission of blame for the crash.

Putin made the statement at a meeting with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev in Tajikistan's capital of Dushanbe, where both are attending a summit of the former Soviet nations.

The Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet crashed on December 25, 2024, while on a flight from Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.

Azerbaijani authorities said the jet was accidentally hit by fire from Russian air defences, then tried to land in western Kazakhstan when it crashed, killing 38 of 67 people aboard.

Putin has apologised to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev for what he called a “tragic incident” but stopped short of acknowledging responsibility. Aliyev, meanwhile, criticised Moscow for trying to “hush up” the incident.