It made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 on board.
On Saturday, the Kremlin released a statement noting that Putin spoke by phone with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace, and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished the victims a speedy recovery,” the report said.
The Kremlin did not directly admit that the plane was shot down by a Russian missile.
Until Saturday, the Kremlin refused to say whether it had anything to do with the disaster. But Russian aviation authorities said the situation in the region is “very difficult” because of Ukrainian drone strikes in Chechnya.
Aviation experts and other Azerbaijani experts believe that the plane’s GPS systems were affected by radio-electronic interference, and then it was damaged by shrapnel from the explosions of Russian anti-aircraft missiles.
Survivors have previously reported hearing loud bangs before the plane went down, suggesting it was a target.
Azerbaijan did not formally blame Russia this week, but the country’s transport minister said the plane had suffered “external interference” and was damaged internally and externally when it tried to land.
US Defense Department officials also said on Friday that they believed Russia was responsible for the downing.
In a statement released shortly after the Kremlin’s announcement, Zelensky said the damage to the plane’s fuselage “very much resembles an air defense missile strike,” adding that Russia “must provide clear explanations.”
“The key priority now is a thorough investigation that will answer all the questions about what really happened.”
In a phone call on Saturday, Putin admitted that an “Azerbaijan Airlines” plane repeatedly tried to land at the Grozny airport in Chechnya on December 25.
At that time Grozny in Chechnya and Mazdok and Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia were attacked by Ukrainian drones, and Russian air defense systems repelled those attacks, Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement.
In Moscow, it was noted that Russian investigative bodies have opened a criminal case. Azerbaijan has already announced the start of the investigation.
The Kremlin said that the Azerbaijani, Kazakh and Russian agencies “are working closely at the site of the disaster in the Oktava region.”
