MOSCOW, Oct. 19 (UPI) — Russia on Monday summoned France’s ambassador to Moscow, accusing a French fighter plane of flying dangerously close to an aircraft carrying Russian lawmakers.
Russia’s foreign ministry said a French military jet was involved in a maneuver it described as “a dangerous near-collision” with a plane carrying a delegation of Russian legislators, including lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin. The plane was carrying to lawmakers to Geneva, Switzerland, for an Inter-Parliamentary Assembly meeting.
Russia said the French air force was responsible, and Sergei Gavrilov, a member of the Russian delegation, said the military jet “dangerously maneuvered in close proximity to the Russian airliner.”
French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert was summoned to the office of Alexei Meshkov, Russian deputy minister of foreign affairs, for an explanation and to hear a diplomatic protest, the ministry said.
It remained unclear if the incident occurred over Switzerland or France.