Russia alleges NATO plane involved in near miss with passenger aircraft

A Russian passenger plane flying off the country’s far east coast nearly collided with an unknown aircraft overnight, according to reports. Now, a source in Russia's security services alleges that the unknown plane was a NATO military jet.

According to the RBC News Agency, the passenger aircraft in question was a Bombardier turboprop plane. It was completing a journey from Russia’s Sakhalin peninsula to the Kuril Islands. 

Air traffic controllers noticed another aircraft approaching at the same altitude, the unnamed source told the Interfax news agency. The unknown plane did not respond to radio signals, and crossed without permission into the passenger liner’s air corridor. As a result, the passenger plane made an emergency descent to avoid a collision.

Air traffic controllers repeatedly tried to contact the unknown aircraft, but the pilot never answered. However, they did manage to record the signal of the plane’s radar transponder. According to international classifications, it belongs to a NATO aircraft, the Moscow Times reports.