RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, that Moscow will pay compensation related to the December 2024 crash of an Azerbaijani passenger jet, saying fragments of detonated Russian missiles may have been the cause.
Meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Dushanbe, Putin said Russia was tracking three Ukrainian drones near its border at the time, and “technical malfunctions” of Russia’s air defense system could have been a factor.
Putin stated that two missiles exploded near the plane, possibly through a self-destruction mechanism, and the resulting fragments most likely damaged the aircraft.
The Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190, Flight J2-8243, was flying from Baku to Grozny when it crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau, killing 38 of the 67 people aboard.
Putin committed that the Russian side will “do everything that must be done in these tragic circumstances, including compensation payments and a legal assessment of the actions of all officials involved.” / XINHUA