Paris summons Russia ambassador over 'false' aviation claim

France's foreign ministry summoned Russia's ambassador Tuesday after Moscow mistakenly accused a French military jet of flying "dangerously close" to a plane carrying a parliamentary delegation, a spokesman said.

Switzerland has admitted that it was one of its warplanes that had approached the Russian aircraft.

French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said that the department's secretary general Christian Masset summoned Russian ambassador Alexander Orlov over the accusation which has caused a diplomatic spat between Moscow and Paris.

"He told him that no French military plane was involved as the Russian foreign ministry mistakenly claimed," said Nadal.

Masset also "condemned the fact that our ambassador to Moscow was summoned ... on the basis of this false information," Nadal added.

Source: AFP