Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Saturday discussed the investigation of this week’s plane crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines flight near a Caspian Kazakh city.
The call, initiated by Russia, saw both leaders exchanging condolences, according to the Kazakh presidency.
Tokayev told Putin that a government commission is investigating the crash with experts from Azerbaijan, Russia, and Brazil.
Both leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining transparency in the investigation.
On Wednesday, the flight from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechen Republic crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors.
While Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan launched investigations, Azerbaijani officials attributed the crash to a Russian missile system.
The crash occurred amid Russian air defense activity against Ukrainian drones, as Putin has acknowledged, and GPS jamming was detected in the region.
Authorities of all interested countries have urged people to wait for official findings before drawing conclusions.
Putin earlier on Saturday extended condolences to Azerbaijan’s president and apologized, mentioning how Russian air defense systems were actively responding to a Ukrainian drone attack when the plane tried to land in Grozny before the crash.