Switzerland Explains Air Incident With Russia as 'Lack of Coordination'

The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the lower house of Russia's parliament said that Switzerland said an aviation incident involving a Russian aircraft carrying members of parliament and a Swiss fighter jet near the border with France had occurred due to a failed coordination.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Switzerland said an aviation incident involving a Russian aircraft carrying members of parliament and a Swiss fighter jet near the border with France had occurred due to a failed coordination, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the lower house of Russia's parliament said on Wednesday.

The air incident occurred early on Monday when a Russian airliner en route to Geneva was approached in French airspace by an unidentified fighter jet, which Russia initially deemed to be a French Air Force aircraft. It later turned out to belong to Switzerland.

"During the talks with the leadership of the Swiss parliament [Stefano] Rossini, the chairman of its lower house, tried to explain the incident with the aircraft as ‘a lack of coordination’ and said that a more detailed explanation would be in a diplomatic note," Alexei Pushkov told the Izvestia newspaper.

On Tuesday, the Swiss Embassy in Moscow submitted an explanatory note to Russian authorities, claiming the plane was on a "routine aerial guard duty."

The Russian delegation was travelling to the 133rd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, when its plane was approached.