President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told the Azerbaijani leader, Ilham Aliyev, in a phone call, “that the tragic incident took place in Russian airspace.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday issued an apology for the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet crash in Kazakhstan that occurred earlier this week, but stopped short of claiming responsibility for it.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 caught fire as it tried to make an emergency landing in Aktau, southwestern Kazakhstan, on Wednesday. It was traveling from the Azeri capital Baku to Grozny, the capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya.