Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is meeting with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev for the first time in a year. Putin stated that two Russian air defense missiles exploded near the AZAL plane, UNN reports with reference to Russian media.
Details
Putin suggested to President Aliyev to start the meeting by discussing the situation with the crash of an Azerbaijani airline AZAL plane, which was en route to Grozny, was damaged during the operation of Russian air defense, and crashed in Kazakhstan.
Vladimir Putin also reiterated his apologies for the AZAL plane tragedy occurring in the skies over Russia. The Russian president confirmed for the first time that the Azerbaijani plane crashed in Kazakhstan after air defense operations in Russia.
However, he claims that two missiles fired by the Russian anti-missile system did not hit the AZAL plane directly, but exploded a few meters away. Putin and Aliyev are meeting on the sidelines of intergovernmental events in Tajikistan. The last full-fledged meeting of the leaders was in October last year.
The AZAL plane crashed near Aktau on December 25, 2024. In 2025, relations between Moscow and Baku sharply deteriorated after the arrests of representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Yekaterinburg.
Addition
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. They discussed diplomatic work to establish real peace, as well as energy cooperation.