Russia has strongly denied ever apologising for violating South Korean airspace, as the fall-out from an incident involving warplanes from four countries continues.
South Korea’s presidential office earlier said a Russian official had expressed “deep regret” for Tuesday’s aerial intrusion in the East China Sea.
It says a Russian aircraft twice violated its territorial airspace during a joint exercise with China.
But Moscow denies any intrusion.
“We have seen statements in the South Korean media quoting words allegedly said by our acting military attaché,” a spokesman for Russia’s embassy in South Korea said, according to Interfax news agency.
“We have paid attention to these statements. In this connection we can speak for ourselves that there is a lot in them which does not correspond to reality.”
South Korean jets fired nearly 400 warning shots and 20 flares on Tuesday near the Russian surveillance plane that both it and Japan said flew near disputed islands that the two countries claim.
On Wednesday, South Korea’s government said that a Russian official had admitted the violation on Tuesday, saying it was unintended and that Moscow would immediately launch an investigation into the case, which the official blamed on a “technical glitch”.
“Moscow said if the aircraft flew according to an initially planned route, this incident would not have occurred,” a spokesman for the presidential Blue House, Yoon Do-han, told reporters.
Meanwhile, China has defended the exercise, which was the first ever joint air patrol between it and Russia.
Defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters they “strictly abided by the relevant regulations of international law and did not enter the airspace of other countries”.
Japan also scrambled bombers during Tuesday’s incident.
The alleged incursion happened over the disputed Dokdo/Takeshima islands, which are occupied by South Korea but also claimed by Japan.
South Korea’s military said that in total three Russian and two Chinese military aircraft entered the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) on Tuesday morning.
One of those planes – an A-50 Russian surveillance plane – also violated its territorial airspace twice, it said, before leaving.
South Korea said its jets fired flares and machine-gun warning shots when the Russian plane intruded. It also deployed F-15 and F-16 planes to intercept it.
Russian and Chinese bombers and reconnaissance planes have occasionally entered the zone in recent years, but this is the first incident of its kind between Russia and South Korea.
Russia’s defence ministry denied any airspace violation and said it did not recognise the KADIZ.
Russia also accused the South Korean pilots of “hooliganism in the air”, saying that the patrol had been more than 25km from the Dokdo/Takeshima islands.
Lt Gen Kobylash said Russia had complained to South Korea about its crews’ “illegal and dangerous actions”.
The government in Tokyo lodged a complaint against both Russia and South Korea.
Because it claims sovereignty over the islands, Japan’s government said that Russia had violated its airspace.
It also said that South Korea’s response had been extremely regrettable.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said: “In light of Japan’s stance regarding sovereignty over Takeshima, the South Korean military aircraft’s having carried out warning shots is totally unacceptable and extremely regrettable.”
