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 transponders 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 from the passenger jet.

"There were no conditions for an aviation incident connected to the flight on Friday December 12th of a Russian military plane in the international airspace over the Baltic Sea," said Moscow 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 was flying without a transponder that would have made it visible on the radar of a commercial plane.

Sweden's defence minister Peter Hultqvist described flying without a transponder as "irresponsible".

But Mr Konashenkov said NATO military flights close to Russia's borders are "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 fighter jet appearing to cut in front of a Norwegian F16 in international airspace north of Norway.

In March, a Scandinavian Airlines plane came within 330ft of a Russian aircraft.