Swedish defence forces claim the Russian aircraft almost hit the airliner, which had just taken off from Copenhagen airport.
A Russian Su-30 jet fighter pictured in Siberia. File pic
Moscow has denied one of its military planes nearly collided with a passenger plane over Sweden.
Swedish defence forces said the incident happened on Friday
when a Russian aircraft turned off its transponder to avoid commercial
radar south of the Swedish city of Malmo.It nearly hit an airliner that had just taken off from Copenhagen International Airport in Denmark, they said.
Both Swedish and Danish fighters were scrambled amid growing concerns about Russian planes skirting or violating the national air space of neighbouring countries.
Russia did not deny its plane was in the area at the time, but said it was a safe distance of more than 70km (43 miles) from the passenger jet.
"There were no conditions for an aviation incident connected to the flight on Friday December 12 of a Russian military plane in the international airspace over the Baltic Sea," said Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
"The distance from the flight path of the passenger jet that took off from Copenhagen was more than 70km."
He confirmed the Russian plane had been flying without a transponder that would have made it visible on the radar of a commercial plane.
Swedish defence minister Peter Hultqvist said flying without a transponder was "irresponsible".
But Mr Konashenkov said NATO military flights close to Russia's borders were "always carried out with the transponder switched off".
"This doesn't mean that Russia's means of controlling the airspace do not spot them," he added.
The passenger plane was not identified. According to Danish newspaper Politiken, it was flying from Denmark to Poland.
Earlier this month, footage was released showing a Russian MiG-31 fighter jet appearing to cut in front of a Norwegian F-16 in international airspace north of Norway.
In March, a Scandinavian Airlines plane came within 100 metres (330ft) of a Russian aircraft.
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