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 admitted on Saturday that Russia’s air defense systems were active when Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 attempted to land in Grozny, Chechnya on Wednesday.

Azerbaijan says the plane had multiple holes in its fuselage and that the occupants had sustained injuries ‘due to foreign particles penetrating the cabin mid-flight’