Moscow denies air interception was unsafe
Print Edition
RUSSIA’S defence ministry yesterday denied that a Russian jet that intercepted a US Air Force plane last week had acted unsafely, dismissing the Pentagon’s criticism.
The Pentagon said on Saturday that a Russian SU-27 had flown in an “unsafe and unprofessional” manner while intercepting a US Air Force reconnaissance plane above the Baltic Sea on April 14.
“The entire flight of the Russian plane was conducted in strict compliance with international rules on the use of air space,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. “There were no emergency situations.”
Moscow said the SU-27 had been dispatched to identify an “aerial target traveling toward the Russian border at high speed.”
The aircraft detected by Russia was an American RC-135 plane, which the Pentagon said was conducting a routine flight.
When the RC-135 established visual contact with the Russian jet, the American plane “changed its flight route away from the Russian border,” Konashenkov said.
Ther Pentagon said on Saturday that the US aircraft had “at no time crossed into Russian territory.”
The incident came shortly after Russian aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this past week, including an incident on Tuesday in which a Russian Su-24 flew above the warship in a “simulated attack profile.”
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