Vladimir Putin has admitted Russia's air defences were responsible for shooting down an Azerbaijani passenger jet in December, killing 38 people.

The Russian president said missiles fired by Russian air defences to target a Ukrainian drone detonated near the Azerbaijani Airlines plane, which was flying from Baku, as it prepared to land in Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Christmas day last year.

"The two missiles that were launched did not hit the plane directly; if that had happened, it would have crashed on the spot, but they exploded, perhaps as a self-destruction measure, a few metres away, about 10m," Mr Putin said.

"And so the damage was caused, mainly not by the warheads, but most likely by the debris from the missiles themselves. T

See Full Page