Vladimir Putin admitted Saturday Russian air defense was working when an Azerbaijani Airlines plane tried to land in Grozny before crashing, while stopping short of claiming responsibility. The Kremlin said Putin apologized to Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev over the “tragic incident” in a phone call,

Moscow—Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized on Saturday over the crash of an Azerbaijani Airlines plane, though he stopped short of accepting that it might have been hit by Russian fire. Putin did admit that Russian air defenses were at work when the passenger plane tried to land in Grozny before crashing,