MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Russia has sent diplomats to Kazakhstan’s Aktau to help the compatriots who survived in a passenger plane crash, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"We have already sent diplomats to Aktau, including to clarify information and provide assistance to our compatriots who survived [the crash]," she said.

According to Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry will provide information as soon as it receives it. "We are in constant contact with our Russian agencies, and, of course, with the agencies of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan," the diplomat added.

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 69 people on board the plane, nationals of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. According to Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office, at least 32 people survived.