MOSCOW. July 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Air Force fighters were scrambled in the early hours of Wednesday to patrol an area over the Sea of Japan, where an unidentified aircraft had reportedly hindered the flight of two Russian passenger planes, but did not reveal anything suspicious, a Moscow-based security source told Interfax.
"Fighters flew to that region over the Sea of Japan. There was a storm and dense clouding there last night. It could be reflected as a small plane on a radar screen. The fighters were scrambled due to the emergence of moisture," the source said.
"Russian pilots examined the area, did not reveal anything and returned to their base," the source said, adding that the civilian planes deviated around the thunderhead, as they should have so as not to put the passengers at risk.
It was reported earlier with reference to a source that an unidentified aircraft had hindered the flight of two Russian passenger planes over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan early on Wednesday. The headings of one Aeroflot and one SAT Airlines passenger plane had to be changed. "This could have been a drone, a military plane or something else," the source presumed.