France calls in Russia envoy over air incident
France has summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the “false information” provided by Moscow about a recent aviation incident in which a fighter jet reportedly approached a Russian plane carrying top legislators.
Russian ambassador Alexander Orlov was summoned to France’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday after Moscow accused a French military jet of flying "dangerously close" to a plane carrying a parliamentary delegation, the ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.
France's Secretary General for Foreign Affairs Christian Masse “told him [Orlov] that no French military plane was involved as the Russian Foreign Ministry mistakenly claimed,” said Nadal.
The accusation reportedly caused a diplomatic spat between Moscow and Paris.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it had summoned Jean-Maurice Ripert, the French ambassador to Moscow, to demand “explanations regarding a dangerous near collision” of a French Air Force jet with a Russian diplomatic plane.
Nadal added that the French secretary general for foreign affairs also "condemned the fact that our ambassador to Moscow was summoned ... on the basis of this false information."
The plane reportedly carried a parliamentary delegation headed by Chairman of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin. The delegation was on its way to Geneva to attend the 133rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union when the plane crossed the French national airspace.
Following Mocow's statement, officials in France denied any wrongdoing, saying no French fighter jets were involved in the alleged harassment. They said the plane belonged to Switzerland and the suspicion may have arisen from the fact that Geneva’s airport is located not far from Switzerland’s border with France.
Switzerland has acknowledged that one of its warplanes had approached the Russian aircraft.
Russia and France have been at odds over Moscow’s military involvement in Syria, with Paris questioning Moscow's fight against the Daesh Takfiri group. French fighter jets are also playing a part in the Syrian skies as part of the US-led coalition against Daesh, although Russia and Syria suspect the effectiveness of the military involvement.
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