The extremely rare publicised apology from Putin was the closest Moscow had come to accepting some blame for Wednesday's disaster, although the Kremlin statement did not say Russia had shot down the plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people.

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart after an incident in Russian airspace that led to the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger aircraft on Dec. 25, killing dozens.

The leadership in Moscow on Friday refused to comment on claims that a Russian missile had caused Wednesday's crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet in Kazakhstan with the loss of 38 lives. Moscow was aware of statements made in Azerbaijan's capital Baku,

Putin apologized for the “tragic incident” that occurred in Russian airspace, but the Kremlin did not take responsibility for downing the Azerbaijan Airlines flight.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologizes to Azerbaijani leader after the crash of an Azerbaijani airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people.

The Kremlin said Putin had "offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia's airspace."