The Russian Defense Ministry reported the interception by two Russian fighters of two UK Air Force planes over the Black Sea, an RC-135 spy plane and two Typhoon fighters.
“Russian airspace control means detected over the Black Sea three air targets approaching the Russian border. In order to identify air targets and prevent violation of the state border of Russiatwo Su-27 fighters of the Anti-Aircraft Force took off,” the entity said in a statement.
“After the approach of the Russian fighters the foreign planes turned and flew away from the state border of Russia,” the Russian military command said.
Russian jets identified the aerial targets as an RC-135 spy plane and two British Typhoon fighters that returned to their base, Defense has confirmed.
“The violation of the state border of the Russian Federation was avoided,” said the entity, which stressed that the flight of Russian fighters was carried out “in strict accordance with international standards of the use of airspace over neutral waters”.
It is not the first time that both countries have been involved in a conflict over the violation of airspace.
One of the last confrontations, It happened in June when Estonian-based RAF Typhoon planes and Swedish Gripen planes were “mobilised” to “intercept” two Russian planes. a Su-27 fighter and an IL20 reconnaissance plane “flying close to NATO and Swedish airspace,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The motivation put forward at that time by the British ministry was the same as the one put forward today by the Russian government: “Russian planes did not respect international standards by not communicating with the relevant flight information regions, but they remained in international airspace and they flew professionally.”
