German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday blamed the Russian war in Ukraine for the deadly Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan. "Russia's brutal war against Ukraine is affecting more and more innocent people - even outside Ukraine. This is shown by the air disaster in Aktau, which must be fully investigated," Scholz wrote on X.

Vladimir Putin has apologised for the Azerbaijan Airlines crash but stopped short of accepting responsibility for what he described as a “tragic incident”.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev blasted Russia for putting forward “absurd” theories initially and said Moscow must compensate victims’ families.