Russian President Vladimir Putin has not claimed responsibility for an Azerbaijani Airlines plane crash, which killed 38 people.
Putin spoke to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday after speculation that Russian air defence may have accidentally shot down the plane, which crashed in western Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
Mr Aliyev told Mr Putin that the plane was first hit by "external physical and technical interference" over Russia.
Putin confirmed the plane had tried to land in the southern Chechnya region “several times” and that Russian air defence was active when the plane tried to land before it crashed.
He did not claim responsibility for crash, but apologised to Mr Aliyev that it occurred in Russian airspace.
The Kremlin issued a statement that the two leaders had discussed questions around the crash “in detail” and that it was "closely" cooperating with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on the crash.
“Vladimir Putin had presented his apologies that the tragic incident happened in Russia's air space and again expressed his deep and genuine condolences to the families of the dead, wishing a quick recovery to those affected,” the Kremlin said.
