They had some sort of an unsafe gear indication after takeoff. They landed at another Russian field to drop off the Russian observers, then flew on to Japan to figure out the problem. However, the Russians are hardwired to see everything as a conspiracy or sneak attack. Paranoia is in their national character.
Gotcha, the article I read wasn't very clear about that. I was responding mostly to Hair's OP. I'm not especially concerned about Russian panties being twisted over this particular event. I still say click bait.