Russia’s Defense Ministry said a Russian Su-35 fighter jet had to be scrambled to fly over the Baltic Sea on Monday after two US strategic bombers flew towards the Russian border.
The fighter returned to base after the bombers pulled away, he said.
The incident followed the crash of a US drone into the Black Sea on March 14, which was intercepted by Russian jets — the first known direct military encounter between Russia and the United States since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
“On March 20, radar installations of the Western Military District Air Defense Forces on duty in the Baltic Sea detected two air targets flying in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
The ministry said in the note that the targets were B52H strategic bombers from the US Air Force.
According to the statement, a Su-35 fighter jet took off to avoid a border violation and added: “after the foreign military aircraft moved away from the border of the Russian Federation, the Russian fighter returned to the airfield of its base.”
The ministry said the Su-35 flight was strictly in line with international rules on the use of airspace.
“No violation of the state border of the Russian Federation was allowed,” it said.
(Reporting by Elaine Monaghan and Ron Popeski)
Source: CNN Brasil
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