Switzerland explains incident with Russian passenger jet

Switzerland confirmed that a Swiss F/A-18 warplane approached a Russian aircraft in Swiss airspace in the vicinity of the city of Biel, Pravda.Ru reports with reference to TASS. 

According to Swiss officials, the Swiss jet approached the Russian craft for a "routine check" that they described as a standard police control procedure in the air.

The Russian airplane was a passenger airplane with a parliamentary delegation headed by Russian State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin on board. The delegation was en route to a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva, officials with the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Originally, Russian officials believed that it was a French aircraft that approached the Russian jetliner. Russia summoned a French ambassador for an explanation, but then apologized, when it became known that it was a Swiss fighter jet, but not a French one.

Pravda.Ru

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