France Regrets Russia Summoned Envoy Over Aviation Incident

French ministries of defense and foreign affairs said in a joint statement Monday that they regretted that Moscow had summoned the French ambassador to Russia over an aviation incident which had taken place in the French airspace. Meanwhile, Moscow has officially apologized.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador in Moscow over a dangerous aviation incident involving what it believed was a French military jet and a plane carrying Russian lawmakers. However, Paris and Bern said later that the aircraft belonged to Switzerland.

The Russian parliamentary delegation led by State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin was heading to the Swiss city of Geneva for an Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting.

"No aircraft of the French Air Force was involved in the incident with a Russian official aircraft referred to by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We regret the fact that France's ambassador was immediately summoned," the French ministries said.

"The necessary clarifications were provided to the Russian side," the statement reads.

Swiss authorities confirmed that the plane following the Russian airliner was one of its F/A-18 fighters, though denied that it had flown in dangerous proximity. Moscow said that it was awaiting explanations over the incident from Switzerland.

"Once we received this information, we immediately contacted the French Embassy. France's ambassador to Russia was summoned. The Russian side asked the French ambassador for an explanation. At that time, the French side, the ambassador could not provide an explanation, and went to clarify this information. Later, having analyzed the situation, the French side stated that this did not have to do with the French Air Force, but with the Swiss Air Force. After that, we offered our apologies to the French side through diplomatic channels," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russia-1 television.