Israeli flight to Russia forced to reduce altitude due to spy plane

Air traffic control told the passenger plane to lower its course by 500 meters (1,640 feet) when a spy plane crossed a civilian flight path.

Aeroflot Boeing 777-300ER at Vladivostok Airport (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Aeroflot Boeing 777-300ER at Vladivostok Airport
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

A passenger plane flying from Tel Aviv to Moscow was forced to change altitude over the Black Sea because a reconnaissance plane was in the area, Russia's Interfax news agency cited an unnamed air traffic control source as saying on Saturday.

Russia's state aviation authority declined to comment on the report, which said the incident happened on Friday when a spy plane crossed a civilian flight path. Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Russian tabloid, cited a source as saying the same thing.

The Interfax source said air traffic control told the passenger plane to lower its course by 500 meters (1,640 feet).

The news reports did not say which airline was operating the passenger plane, but Flightradar24 data showed that an Aeroflot flight from Tel Aviv to Moscow on Friday reduced its altitude for a short stretch over the Black Sea.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday it had scrambled fighter jets to escort two US military reconnaissance planes over the Black Sea.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia July 25, 2021.  (credit: SPUTNIK/ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/KREMLIN)
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, Russia July 25, 2021. (credit: SPUTNIK/ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/KREMLIN)

The US Embassy in Moscow made no immediate comment about Saturday's Interfax report.