President Ilham Aliyev, an ally of president Vladimir Putin, has accused the Russian regime of trying to cover up a plane crash which killed 38 people on Christmas Day

The Kremlin leader "apologized for the fact that the incident happened in Russian airspace" during a call with Azerbaijan's president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday he apologized after the Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed over Grozny, Chechnya, killing 38 people and injuring 29 others in southern Russia on Christmas Day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijan's leader for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people. Putin stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.

Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation told Reuters that Russian air defences mistakenly shot it down.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized for the “tragic incident,” which left 38 people dead, though he stopped short of taking responsibility.

The Russian president has apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a "tragic incident" - but stopped short of taking responsibility.

The year is ending with a pair of sharp messages between top advisers to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President-elect Trump. Trump’s choice for special envoy to Ukraine and Russia,

Russia's leader apologises over the downing of an Azerbaijani plane in Russian airspace - without directly taking blame.

The Kremlin has said that the Russian president "apologized for the tragic incident" and expressed his "deep and sincere condolences" to the victims' families.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told the Azerbaijani leader, Ilham Aliyev, in a phone call, “that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace.”