President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday acknowledged Russia’s responsibility for the deadly downing of an Azerbaijani jet late last year, trying to heal a rift between the two former Soviet nations over the Kremlin’s monthslong deflection of blame.
Thirty-eight people were killed on Christmas Day when an Embraer 190 operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The plane, carrying 62 passengers and five crew members, was en route from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, the capital of the Russian region of Chechnya.
Evidence quickly emerged that the jet had been shot down by Russian aerial defense systems that were targeting Ukrainian drones. Russian officials denied that Moscow had been involved, enraging Azerbaijani officials and citizens.
On Dec. 28, Mr. Putin offered a rare public apology to Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani president, for what he called a “tragic incident,” but the Russian leader stopped short of taking responsibility.
The two leaders met for the first time since the crash during a meeting on Thursday in Tajikistan of regional leaders. Mr. Putin reiterated his apology and publicly admitted for the first time that Russia had caused the disaster, saying that two of its air-defense missiles had detonated near the jet after Ukrainian drones entered Russian airspace near Grozny.
It was Russia’s “duty,” Mr. Putin said, according to remarks released by the Kremlin, “to give an objective assessment of everything that happened and to identify the true causes.”
He indicated that Russia would be willing to pay unspecified damages to the victims’ families after a “legal assessment” of the incident.
Mr. Putin publicly acknowledges mistakes by the Russian military extremely infrequently. More than a decade after Russian missile defense brought down a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people, Moscow continues to deny its role in the crash.
As Russia tried to evade blame for the downing of the Azerbaijani jet, the crash resurrected old grievances about Moscow’s treatment of Baku as a junior partner. Over the past 10 months, members of Azerbaijan’s Parliament and state media have castigated the Kremlin for its “imperialist” attitudes. Some have called for breaking off ties altogether with Russia.
Mr. Aliyev, the president, has become increasingly critical of Moscow, his longtime ally. Within weeks of the crash, he offered his support to Ukraine in its war against Russia and even condemned what he called the Soviet Union’s 20th-century “occupation” of Azerbaijan, an attack on a Russian leadership that views itself as heirs of the Soviet empire.
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