according to the source, The intercepted equipment, an RC135 for military reconnaissance and electronic surveillance and two Typhoon fighters, retreated ahead of the SU27’s approach.
“When Russian warplanes approached, the foreign military planes fled from the state border of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in a statement reported by news agencies.
This was not the first similar encounter between the military establishments of Russia and NATO countries. Both sides accuse each other of violating or approaching airspace.
A month ago, on May 25, the same Russian ministry sent two warplanes to escort two US strategic bombers. and beyond the borders of Russian airspace in the Baltic Sea.
It was the second such incident in three days over the Baltic Sea in international airspace. DTwo days earlier, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had deployed a SU27 fighter to prevent “state border violations” by two US strategic bombers.identified as B1B, flying in international airspace.
In both cases, there were no airspace violations or collisions, and the planes returned to their bases without incident. Russian military leaders highlighted the exemplary behavior of their pilots.
This attitude was not always advisable. In March 2023, a US surveillance drone crashed into the Black Sea after being neutralized by Russian warplanes in international airspace.
The United States has accused Russian pilots of deliberately trying to attack the propulsion system of the MQ9 Reaper drone. and throwing fuel over the device in an apparent attempt to damage the drone’s optical systems.
Moscow denied this, but images later released by the Pentagon proved the US allegations.
other encounters
Monday’s incident was just the latest in a series since the beginning of the war in Ukraine between Russian, North American and NATO planes, including Portuguese ones.
On February 16, 2023, the US Defense Services announced the need to intercept Russian aircraft in international airspace over Alaska for two consecutive dayswho did not identify themselves and were operating dangerously close to a military identification area.
However, the North American Aerospace Defense Command NORAD stated that the Russian maneuvers were neither dangerous nor provocative.
Similar incidents were also registered in October 2022.
last april, German and British planes operating as part of NATO’s Northeast European air defenses intercepted three Russian reconnaissance planes in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
The two Russian SU27 fighters and the Ilyushin IL20 operated without transmitting transponder signals, the German Air Force said.
During the same period, a Russian fighter plane was activated to escort a German Navy aircraft across the Baltic Sea. Days earlier, Portuguese NATO aircraft had been called to monitor maneuvers by Russian aircraft.
At the end of the same month British fighter jets were activated to intercept Russian military aircraft on sorties north of Scotland.
Typhoon fighter jets were used to control Russian Tu142 sea patrol aircraft that were approaching British airspace in the North Atlantic after flying over international airspace over the Norwegian Sea.
Norwegian F35A fighters had already followed the Russian planes as part of an integrated NATO response.
In early May, Russia said two planes, one German and one French, had been intercepted trying to “violate” Russian airspace.