COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — For the second
time this year, a Russian military aircraft turned off its transponders to
avoid commercial radar and nearly collided with a passenger jet over Sweden,
officials said Saturday.
"This is
serious. This is inappropriate. This is outright dangerous when you turn off
the transponder," Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said on Swedish
radio.
Officials at Russia 's Ministry of Defense in Moscow were not immediately available to
comment Saturday.
In recent months, Russia has increased its military presence in
the Baltic Sea area, prompting some Swedish
officials to compare it to the Cold War. In October, non-NATO Sweden launched its first submarine hunt since
the collapse of the Soviet Union . Swedish
authorities said a small, foreign submarine had entered its waters illegally
but never found it and didn't disclose its nationality.
NATO has air
patrols over the Baltic Sea and the continuous rotation of NATO military units
in and out of countries such as the Baltic states and Poland .
On Saturday, Swedish authorities said a Russian military
aircraft nearly collided above southern Sweden
with a commercial passenger jet that had taken off on Friday from Copenhagen .
Byden said the
incident in international air space looked "pretty serious," adding
the southern-bound commercial flight was immediately ordered to change course.
Media in Sweden and Denmark said the commercial plane was en route
to Poland ,
but no one identified the airline that was flying the jet or how many people it
was carrying.
Byden said this was
not as serious as in March when a Russian plane flying without transponders
came within 100 meters (300 feet) of an SAS plane that had taken off from Copenhagen .
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