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.

Russia has published a festive video of Santa Claus becoming a victim of Russian air defence against the backdrop of the tragic crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane in Grozny, with growing evidence pointing to Russian air defence as the cause.

Russians who reviewed the transcript of the crew's conversations from the Baku-Grozny flight themselves admit that the air crash was caused by their air defense systems (ADS), according to Andriy Kovalenko,