A Russian fighter jet escorted a US reconnaissance aircraft over the Pacific Ocean, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday – as tensions between Moscow and Washington rise.
Tass, a Russian news agency, reported that ministry officials detected a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Pacific, along the 777-mile southeast coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the far eastern border of the United States. Russia.
“A MiG-31 fighter jet was lifted from an aerodrome in the Kamchatka region to identify and escort the plane,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The crew identified it as a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.”
The Russian fighter jet then returned to its home airfield after removing the US aircraft from the Russian border, Tass reported.
“The Ministry of Defense said that the flight of the Russian fighter plane was carried out in strict accordance with international norms for the use of airspace,” the press added.
A 28-second clip posted on Twitter early Friday shows about the Russian plane escorting the US aircraft.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense is considering the meeting, Fox News reported on Friday.
The air meeting comes just one day after the Biden administration imposed new sanctions on several Russian officials and companies, as well as the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats.
The drastic measures are meant to punish Russia for the federal agencies’ SolarWinds piracy and the country’s efforts to interfere in the US elections, which Russia has denied.
In an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, President Biden also launched the idea of a personal summit in the coming months.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned of “inevitable” retaliation, saying that “Washington should realize that it will have to pay the price for the deterioration of bilateral ties.”
Russia also warned the US on Tuesday to stay away from the Black Sea “for their own good”, after the Biden administration said it intended to send two destroyers to the region in response to Moscow’s military presence near Ukraine.
With Post threads