The United States defense department has accused Russia of an aggravated and unsafe air interception of a reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on April 7.
A U.S. RC-135U plane was flying in international airspace over Poland near Russia's Kaliningrad region, when a Russian SU-27 Flanker approached the aircraft from behind at high speed. According to early reports, the Russian aircraft reportedly passed within six meters of the unarmed American plane.
The SU-27 then performed two more close passes of the U.S. plane.
Russian officials have denied doing anything wrong and alleged the RC-135U's transponder was turned off. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman. Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed the Russian jet made several passes was only trying to identify the plane and its tail number.
A U.S. European Command official said that claim was false, and that the Pentagon intends to file a complaint with the the Russian military.
"Unprofessional air intercepts have the potential to cause harm to all aircrews involved. More importantly, the careless actions of a single pilot have the potential to escalate tensions between countries," Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said on Sunday.
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