Putin's apology came as allegations mounted that the plane had been shot down by Russian air defenses attempting to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike.

Putin did admit that Russian air defences were at work when the passenger plane tried to land in Grozny before crashing, and ...

Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev "for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace." ...

An Azerbaijani minister has suggested that an airliner that crashed this week was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor testimony indicating that the plane was struck from the outside ...