Russia Denies Near-Collision With Sweden

Russia's Defense Ministry refuted the claim that one of its military aircrafts almost crashed into a Swedish passenger jet. On Saturday, Sweden announced that a Russian intelligence plane had turns off its transponders to avoid commercial detection and flew dangerously close to a Friday night Scandinavian Airlines flight. "This is serious. This is inappropriate. This is outright dangerous when you turn off the transponder," said Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvis. However, Russian officials said the plane was in compliance with international codes and never flew closer than 70 km (42 miles) to the Swedish plane. "There were no prerequisites for an air accident," said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov. In Russia's defense, Swedish Airlines also said it had “been blown out of all proportion,” according to a spokesman. It is the second time this year that Sweden has claimed that Russia flew an aircraft dangerously close to one of theirs.