F-18 fighters of the Swiss Air Force closely followed the Il-96 aircraft of the special flight detachment "Russia" heading from Moscow to Peru, an Interfax correspondent who was on board reports. On board are Russian journalists, as well as some members of the delegation who will accompany President Vladimir Putin to the APEC summit in Lima.

Three planes, with the Swiss flag clearly visible, approached the Russian airliner and followed it for some time, changing places. The fighters were so close to the passenger plane that the numbers of the Air Force planes could be seen. The video shows the Swiss fighter with an external fuel tank and possibly two air-to-air missiles on the wingtips. As Dmitry Smirnov, a journalist from the Kremlin pool, wrote on Facebook , the Swiss pilot waved to the Russian Il-96.

The captain explained to passengers that on this route "this is normal practice."

However, the journalists of the "presidential pool" could recall only one such episode, and it was connected with the NATO summit held in the country over which the Russian airliner was flying. The fighters finished escorting the plane after it left Swiss airspace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is flying to the summit in Peru on a different plane, arriving in Lima from Sochi, where he worked this week and held a series of meetings with Russian military leaders and heads of defense industry enterprises.

Swiss fighter jets escort plane carrying Russian journalists