However, he said the aircraft had made several attempts to land in Grozny, Chechnya, at a time when Russian air defence systems were actively responding to a Ukrainian drone attack.

Azerbaijan investigators have focused on a Russian air defence missile strike as the cause of the crash.

The Kremlin said in a statement in Moscow that Putin apologised in a phone call to Aliyev “for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace”, agency reports said. Putin initiated the phone call, the Kremlin said.

The Russian president told Aliyev that a Russian investigative committee had begun criminal investigations into violations of air traffic safety and operational rules, with civilian and military specialists being consulted, the statement added.

However, an Azerbaijan statement said Aliyev emphasised that the Azerbaijan Airlines plane “encountered external physical and technical interference while in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control”.

On Wednesday, the Azerbaijan Airlines flight to Grozny from Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people and leaving 29 survivors among the 67 on board.

Several airlines have announced the suspension of flights to Russian cities, after Western experts and the US suggested the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane this week may have been caused by a Russian anti-aircraft missile.