South Korea says it fired 360 warning shots at Russian warplane

PanARMENIAN.Net - South Korean fighter jets fired more than 300 warning shots at a Russian military aircraft Tuesday, July 22, after it twice violated the country's airspace, defense officials said.

In a statement, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that a Russian A-50 command and control military aircraft twice violated South Korean airspace off the country's eastern coast on Tuesday morning.

The incursion came during what South Koreans officials believe was a joint Russian-Chinese military exercise. Two Chinese H-6 bombers had passed into Seoul's air identification zone just hours before, joined by another two Russian military planes.

CNN said it has reached out to be China and Russia for comment on the incident.

The South Korean military said the Russian A-50 flew above islands claimed by both South Korea and Japan, first at 9.09 a.m. local time and then again at 9.33 a.m., each time for just a matter of minutes.