MOSCOW, Oct. 19 (UPI) — A military fighter jet that reportedly flew dangerously close to an aircraft carrying several Russian lawmakers Monday belonged to Switzerland — not France, as initially believed — officials said.
Russia’s foreign ministry initially said a French military jet was involved in the maneuver, which it described as “a dangerous near-collision” with the plane carrying the Russian delegation, which included lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin.
The plane was reportedly in French airspace while carrying to lawmakers to Geneva, Switzerland, for an Inter-Parliamentary Assembly meeting.
Russia claimed the French air force was responsible, but France’s foreign ministry denied that any of its aircraft performed such a maneuver.
The military jet that was involved, the French agency said, was Swiss.
French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert had earlier been summoned to Moscow to provide an explanation and to hear a diplomatic protest, the Russian ministry said.
Swiss officials have reportedly claimed ownership of the fighter jet in question, but denied it came close to colliding with the Russian delegation’s plane.
A spokesman for the Swiss Federal Department on Defense, Civil Defense and Sport told RIA Novosti that the jet was performing standard verification procedures.
“It was an absolutely normal act,” the spokesman said, cited in a Sputnik International news report. “It was the Swiss F/A-18 … It checked the tail numbers of the Russian aircraft bound for Geneva. This is standard procedure and there was no ‘dangerous proximity.’”
The incident is the latest to involve Russia, which itself has been repeatedly accused by NATO member states of flying military jets dangerously close to Western aircraft on numerous occasions.
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