MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian embassy in Kabul has no information on the attempt to intercept a Russian commercial airliner by an Afghan fighter over Kabul, Stepan Anikeyev, press officer for the Russian embassy in Afghanistan, said.
"There is no information on this incident. The Afghanis have not told us anything about that," he told Interfax on Wednesday.
"It has to be said that all these private companies such as Nordwind Airlines, as a rule, get their 'flight permits' through Rosaviatsiya and ICAO, not the embassy, that is, it's best to seek comments from Rosaviatsiya," the diplomat said.
Anikeyev assumed the Russian airliner could have had problems with documents needed to fly in the Afghan air space, or the interception attempts could have been made by mistake.
The diplomat also said he doubts that the fighter which came close to the Russian airliner was Afghan.
"Afghanistan essentially has no Air Force, and they certainly don't have any fighters. It could have been an ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] plane," he said.
The Russian media earlier reported that an Afghan reactive fighter had targeted a Boeing-767 owned by Nordwind Airlines, which was bound from Bali to Yekaterinburg, over Kabul.