The Azerbaijan Airlines plane then crashed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
Most of the passengers on the flight were from Azerbaijan, with some also coming from Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Most of the survivors are believed to have been in the back seats of the plane.
Flight J2-8243 was heading from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, on December 25 when it was hit by artillery fire and was forced to change course.
The Kremlin issued a statement on Saturday saying Putin spoke by phone with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
“President Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace, reiterated his deep and heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, and wished the injured a speedy recovery,” the statement said.
In an unusually public apology, Putin also acknowledged that the plane had repeatedly attempted to land at Grozny Airport in Chechnya.
At the time, the cities of Grozny, Mozdok and Vladikavkaz “were under attack by Ukrainian drones, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” he said.
The Kremlin’s reading did not directly acknowledge that the plane was hit by a Russian missile.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement shortly after the Kremlin meeting that the damage to the plane was “very reminiscent of an air defense missile attack,” adding that Russia “must give a clear explanation.”
“The key priority now is a thorough investigation that answers all questions about what actually happened.”
Before Saturday, the Kremlin had refused to say whether authorities were involved in the crash, saying they were awaiting the results of the investigation.
But Russian aviation authorities said earlier this week that Ukrainian drone attacks had made the situation in the region “very complicated.”
