By Guy Faulconbridge, Andrew Osborn and Nailia BagirovaMOSCOW/BAKU (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologised to Azerbaijan's leader for what the Kremlin called a "tragic incident" over Russia in which an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed after Russian air defences were fired against Ukrainian drones.

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijan's leader for what he called a “tragic incident” following the crash of an airliner in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people. Putin stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told the Azerbaijani leader, Ilham Aliyev, in a phone call, “that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace.”