Two passenger jets have been targeted by lasers pointed by unknown people on the ground as they approached or left Moscow airports.
No one was injured in the Sunday night incidents, Interfax reported Monday.
The pilots of an Aeroflot Airbus A-320 radioed air traffic controllers that someone was trying to blind them with a laser beam as they descended into Sheremetyevo Airport on a flight from St. Petersburg, Interfax said, citing an official with the air traffic control center.
A few minutes later, the pilots of a Transaero Boeing 737 radioed a similar message as they climbed out of Vnukovo Airport on a flight to Astana, Kazakhstan.
Pilots on both aircraft steered the planes out of the beam of the lasers and landed safety at their destinations.
Interfax did not say how many people were on the planes.
Pranksters with lasers have been an off-and-on problem in Moscow and other Russian cities for the past two years. No one has been injured, but lawmakers have sought to ramp up punishments for anyone convicted of staging laser attacks.
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