S Korea, Russia differ over warning shots fired at jets

South Korean air force jets fired 360 rounds of warning shots Tuesday after a Russian military plane twice violated South Korea's airspace off the country's eastern coast, Seoul officials said in an announcement that was quickly disputed by Russia.

South Korea said three Russian military planes two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft entered the South's air defense identification zone off its east coast before the A-50 intruded in South Korean airspace.

Russia said later that two of its Tu-95MS bombers were on a routine flight over neutral waters and didn't enter South Korean territory.

South Korea said it was the first time a foreign military plane had violated its airspace since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

According to South Korean accounts, an unspecified number of South Korean fighter jets, including F-16s, scrambled to the area and fired 10 flares and 80 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

Seoul defense officials said the Russian reconnaissance aircraft left the area three minutes later but later returned and violated South Korean airspace again for four minutes.

The officials said the South Korean fighter jets then fired another 10 flares and 280 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

But the commander of Russia's long-range aviation forces denied both that the planes had violated South Korean airspace and that shots were fired.

"If the Russian pilots had identified such a threat to themselves, they would have immediately given an appropriate response," Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash said, according to Russian news agencies.

He said South Korean military planes escorted the Russian planes over neutral waters, which he called "aerial hooliganism."
He also suggested the incident would not have serious consequences because "South Korea right now is not very interested in pressing this into a kind of long-term worsening of relations."