The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, made a phone call with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, on December 28, apologizing for the “tragic incident” of the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane, Azertag news agency reports.

According to Baku, the Azeri president noted to Vladimir Putin that the passenger plane suffered “external physical and technical intervention” while in Russian airspace and completely lost control, diverted to the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, and was able to make an emergency landing only thanks to the bravery and professionalism of the pilots.

Aliyev emphasized that “the presence numerous holes in the fuselage of the plane, the injuries to passengers and crew members from foreign particles that penetrated the deck of the plane while it was still in the air, and the statements of the surviving flight attendants and passengers in this regard establish the fact of external physical and technical intervention.”

During the conversation, the two leaders stressed that there should be a serious and thorough investigation into all the details of this tragedy and the need to bring the perpetrators to justice.

President Aliyev said that, at the proposal of the Azerbaijani side, a group of international experts was formed to thoroughly investigate the causes of this accident, and this group has already started its work.

Aliyev and Putin also stressed that the investigation process launched into the tragedy will be carried out “with complete transparency and public opinion will be updated on a regular basis.”