Russia Denies Its Military Aircraft Nearly Collided With Passenger Jet Over Sweden [View all]

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Source: Associated Press

Article by: LYNN BERRY , Associated Press
Updated: December 14, 2014 - 11:35 AM

MOSCOW — Russia's Defense Ministry on Sunday denied Swedish claims that for the second time this year a Russian military aircraft had nearly collided with a passenger jet over Sweden, insisting that the two planes were never less than 70 kilometers (42 miles) apart.

Scandinavian Airlines, which was operating the commercial flight, also said the incident had been blown out of proportion and that no danger had been posed to Friday's flight from Copenhagen to Poznan, Poland.

Swedish military officials raised the alarm on Saturday by announcing that the Russian intelligence plane, which had turned off its transponders to avoid commercial radar, had come dangerously close to colliding with the passenger jet.

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"This has been blown out of all proportion, completely," SAS spokesman Knut Morten Johansen said. "It wasn't even an incident." He said there was no breach "because the safety distance between aircraft hadn't been exceeded."



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