Russia initially summoned the French ambassador to complain that a private plane carrying the Speaker of the lower house of parliament had been involved in a “dangerous incident” with a fighter jet over Switzerland.

Then the Swiss revealed it was one of their aircraft, and that it conducted a routine identification check on the Geneva-bound jet in Swiss air space.

Moscow, which had threatened not to use France as a venue for international meetings in
retaliation, later apologised for the mistake.

Sergei Naryshkin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, was on his way to an international meeting of parliamentarians.

Euronews