Organisers of the Winter Olympics in Sochi have moved to play down a hijacking attempt by a man who tried to divert a plane to the host city.
The organisers said the Pegasus Airlines flight was bound for Turkey and was not in Russian airspace, contrary to earlier reports.
The man allegedly declared that he had a bomb and demanded that the plane be diverted to Sochi.
A Turkish fighter jet escorted the plane to a safe landing in Istanbul and the man was taken into custody.
Sochi 2014 organising committee president Dmitry Chernyshenko told reporters: "We were aware about this incident.
"There were not any threats and I know that the Ukraine and Turkish authorities did their best to fix this hooligan incident."
In the aftermath of the incident, Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu confirmed that there was no explosive on board.
Written by
Benjamin Topliss
Benjamin Topliss
