Russia, South Korea collides in claims over airspace violation

Russia affirmed that it did not give an apology for the encroaching into South Korean airspace as being reported by South Korea’s media earlier.

Russian military aircraft, Beriev A - 50 (photo: The New York Times)

The embassy of Russia in Seoul on Wednesday denied having apologized for an alleged violation into South Korean airspace on July 23, differing from the report of South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The earlier news of Yonhap news agency had wrote "Russia has conveyed its deep regret over the incident and said its defense ministry would immediately launch an investigation and take all necessary steps," Yoon Do-han, South Korea's presidential press secretary and “The officer said such a situation would have never occurred if it followed the initially planned route.”

However, Russian embassy spokesman, Dmitry Bannikov said “The Russian side has not made any official apologies" one hour after the report appeared. Russia also confirmed that it did not explain that the cause of the intrusion was a “device malfunction” as the South Korean media had stated.

The contradiction of information given by Russia and South Korea came after the incident on Tuesday which South Korean air force alleged a Russian military plane, Beriev A - 50 had intruded into the South Korean airspace and fires warning shots to this aircraft.

The location of this incident was in the Sea of Japan, near Dokdo islets, a territorial dispute between South Korea and Japan.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its Beriev A – 50 flew in a joint patrol with China. Both China and Russia opposed South Korea’s allegation in violating its airspace.

DW, Reuters, The New York Times ( Van Nguyen )