Fighter jets from the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the German Air Force intercepted a Russian military aircraft over Estonian airspace, the BBC wrote in a tweet that did not name any sources. The Russian aircraft, a four-engine Ilyushin Il-78 Midas transport and aerial refueling aircraft, flew between the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg, flying over Estonian airspace, over the Baltic Sea, without announcing its transfer to Tallinn air control. The two planes that intercepted it, two Typhoons that took off for the occasion, one German, the other British, escorted the Il-78 out of the Estonian area.
Meanwhile, tensions remain very high after a Russian jet intercepted and damaged an American spy drone that was forced to crash in the Black Sea. The incident, the first of its kind since war broke out in Ukraine over a year ago, risks causing the Risk of escalation of the conflict, despite Joe Biden’s best efforts not to be drawn into a Third World War scenario: one mistake or one poorly calculated maneuver is enough to start the spiral of retaliation with the specter of open confrontation between the two put two nuclear powers.
Russia has urged the US to end what it calls “unacceptable military activities near Russia’s borders,” the ambassador said.
Russian in the United States, Anatoly Antonov, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency. “We all know,” Antonov added, “what these reconnaissance planes are for
Pilot. Namely, to collect intelligence information that Ukraine then uses to attack Russia.” Moscow therefore expects Washington to “put an end to the flights
near the Russian border”, which he describes as “hostile”.
However, Antonov, subpoenaed by Deputy Secretary of State for European Affairs Karem Donfried, reiterated that Russia does not want a “clash” with the United States, but noted that “in our view, American planes are not near the Russian border should “. “Can you imagine such a drone suddenly appearing near New York or San Francisco?” he asked, although the crash occurred in international airspace.
Tensions were further fueled directly by Vladimir Putin, who described the conflict in Ukraine as “a war for the very survival of the Russian state” and resumed accusations against the US over the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. According to the Pentagon version, around 7 a.m. in Italy, two Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted an American MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ surveillance drone and one of them hit its propeller, causing it to crash into the Black Sea. In the collision, the two flew Jets dangerously in front of the drone and also spilled fuel on it, possibly in an attempt to damage or blind it.
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian plane, resulting in the crash and the complete loss of the drone,” U.S. Air Force Gen. James Hecker said in the region. “This dangerous and unprofessional action by the Russians almost caused both planes to crash,” he added. The Moscow version is different, according to which its jets took off because the drone flew towards the Russian border with the transponders switched off, but neither used weapons nor made contact: “After abrupt maneuvers, the aircraft without an MQ-9 pilot went into an uncontrolled flight Loss of altitude and collided with the water surface”.
The Biden administration, which condemned the incident and called on the Russian ambassador to protest, appeared to add fuel to the fire and initially described the incident as a reckless interception. The reconnaissance mission of the MQ-9 unmanned aircraft over the Black Sea was a provocation, said the Russian ambassador to the United States.
In a telephone briefing, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby recalled that it was not uncommon for the US and Russia to engage in high-altitude dogfights amid the war in Ukraine. “There have been other similar wiretapping attempts, although this one is notable because it was dangerous and unprofessional and resulted in the downing of a US plane, so it’s unique in that regard,” Kirby said after reporting that Commander-in-Chief Joe Biden told her was immediately informed of the consequences.
“We don’t know what the Russian intention was, but if the embassy were to act as a deterrent to our overflights in international airspace over the Black Sea, it would inevitably fail,” he warned. Before the incident, however, the Tsar had sent some messages to the West. First, Russia is struggling to “survive” its “statehood” in Ukraine after pressure from the West following the collapse of the USSR. And it’s no secret that Russia’s nuclear doctrine provides for the use of nuclear weapons in the event of “existential” threats to the country. Second, he does not believe in the US intelligence-accredited version of the Nord Stream sabotaged by Ukrainian activists: “This is complete nonsense. The United States was interested in blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines.
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