Russia protests ‘dangerous’ Swiss aircraft manoeuvre

The Swiss ambassador in Moscow received a complaint from the Russian department of foreign affairs on Tuesday concerning a Swiss F/A-18 military aircraft that flew too close to a plane carrying a Russian parliamentary delegation. The Russian plane was on its way to a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva on Monday when the Swiss military plane got too close for comfort. The Russians declared that the manoeuvre, which occurred above the city of Biel in canton Bern, was “dangerous”. Switzerland apologised, but stated that it had notified Russian authorities in advance of the warplane’s presence. The Swiss ministry of defence said that the plane’s behaviour was “totally normal“, explaining that the F-18 had approached the Russian aircraft for a “routine check”. However, the Swiss army was apparently unaware that Sergei Naryshkin, the president of Russia’s lower chamber of parliament, was in the Russian plane at the time. Unfortunately, the Russians ...