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Russian Foreign Ministry apologizes for summoning French ambassador over plane incident

Moscow is waiting for a formal reply from the Swiss side

Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova

© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, October 19. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has apologized through diplomatic channels to the French side for summoning the ambassador demanding explanations over the incident with the plane which carried the Russian delegation led by State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin, Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

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"We have received information from the crew members of the plane that carried the Russian parliamentary delegation led by Mr.Naryshkin to Switzerland to take part in the forum that the aircraft had been dangerously approached by a plane of the French Air Force. We got in touch with the embassy, the French ambassador to Russia was summoned to the Foreign Ministry," Zakharova told the Rossiya 1 TV channel.

After verifying the information, the French side said that the Russian aircraft had been approached not by a plane of the French Air Force but by a Swiss Air Force fighter jet.

"After that apologies were extended to the French side through diplomatic channels, and the Russian Foreign Ministry began working with the Swiss side… We are waiting for a formal reply from the Swiss side," Zakharova said.

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