Russian aircraft briefly entered Turkish airspace due to bad weather - ministry

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that a Russian military aircraft had briefly entered Turkish airspace because of bad weather conditions. "On Saturday, October 3, a Russian Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft briefly, for a few seconds, entered Turkish airspace as it was making a maneuver over mountain-woody forest terrain to return to Hmeymim airfield after a planned combat flight," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing. "As you can see on the map, Hmeymim airfield is situated about 30 kilometers from the Syrian-Turkish border. Under certain weather conditions, approach to the airfield is made from the north," Konashenkov said. "That is why, the incident occurred because of unfavourable weather conditions in that area," he said, warning against attempts to find some conspiracy motives behind the incident. "After checking and analyzing data of objective control, the command of the air group of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria has taken necessary measures to prevent such incidents in the future," he said. On Sunday, October 4, the Russian Defence Ministry sent explanations to the Turkish side through the office of the military attaché at the Turkish Embassy to Russia, Konashenkov said. "As for information about an alleged pursuit of Turkish planes by an unidentified MiG-29 fighter jet on Sunday, it has nothing to do with the Russian air group," he said. "There are no planes of this type at Hmeymin airbase," he added. Read more