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US spy plane created ‘real threat’ to passenger aircraft over Sea of Japan – Moscow US spy plane created ‘real threat’ to KLM & Swiss flights over Sea of Japan – Moscow
(35 minutes later)
A US spy jet flying near Russia's eastern borders over the Sea of Japan on May 22 “created a real threat” to passenger planes, Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.A US spy jet flying near Russia's eastern borders over the Sea of Japan on May 22 “created a real threat” to passenger planes, Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
READ MORE: US spy plane flew ‘dangerously close’ to passenger jets near Russian border – MoD US spy planes conduct flights along the Russian frontier in the east almost on a daily basis, according to Konashenkov.
DETAILS TO FOLLOW “However, this time while maneuvering along the international air route, the US spy plane created a real threat of collision for passenger aircraft, which could lead to catastrophic consequences,” the spokesman said.
On May 22, a US RC-135 spy plane launched from the Kadena Air Base carried out a reconnaissance flight over the Sea of Japan at an altitude of 10,000 meters with a switched-off transponder, a device responsible for emitting an identifying signal, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported earlier.
Konashenkov reminded that when approaching Russia’s border, an RC-135 reconnaissance plane found itself on the international air route flown by a KLM Dutch Airlines (Tokyo-Amsterdam) and a Swiss Airlines (Tokyo-Zurich) passenger planes.
“The Swiss crew asked Russian dispatchers of the Vladivostok air traffic control regional center for visual observation of the four-engined aircraft of unknown origin moving towards them,” Konashenkov said. “After assessing the situation, in order to avoid a dangerous approach of the passenger and spy planes, at 5:41am Russian dispatchers gave a command [to the SWISS crew] to lower their flight level,” Konashenkov said.