IGORA /Leningrad Region/, December 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation has expressed condolences to his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev over the crash of an Azerbaijani plane near Aktau, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"Unfortunately, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had to leave St. Petersburg. Putin has already called him, offered condolences over the crash of an Azerbaijani plane in Aktau. Overall, we are expressing deepest condolences to those who lost their near and dear in this air disaster," the Kremlin official said.

An Embraer 190 passenger plane operated by Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), which was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya, crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau earlier on Wednesday. According to preliminary reports, there were 62 passengers and five crew members on board the plane, nationals of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Media reports say that at least 28 people survived.