MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. The Russian State Commission for Flight Safety Oversight will send a request to Great Britain about the reasons for searching Aeroflot plane at London’s Heathrow airport on Friday, according to the Russian Transport Ministry. If London does not provide an explanation, Russia will reserve the right to apply similar actions to British airlines.
"This commission will send a request to our colleagues from the UK about the reasons for searching Aeroflot aircraft in London on March 30, 2018. If there is no explanation, Russia will regard these actions against our aircraft as illegal, and will also reserve the possibility of similar actions against British air carriers," the Ministry said.
It was reported earlier that an aircraft of the Russian national flag-carrying airline Aeroflot underwent a surprise search by the British boarder guards at Heathrow airport on Friday.
Aeroflot executives said on Friday the UK authorities had searched the jet, bound to perform a return flight SU2583 from London to Moscow, without providing any explanations for their actions. In violation of the effective international rules, the captain of the jet was locked in the cockpit. The airline said the search fully ran counter to the international practice for such operations.