Russia scrambles Su-27 to intercept two US military jets over Baltic Sea to prevent airspace violation

Russia claimed on Tuesday (May 23) that it had scrambled a Su-27 fighter jet to "prevent violations of the state border" by two US Air Force strategic bombers flying over the Baltic Sea.

The Russian defence ministry said, "After removing the foreign military aircraft from the Russian state border, the Russian fighter went back to its air base."

The defence ministry claimed that the two aircraft were B-1 strategic bombers belonging to the US Air Force. According to the statement, the army prevented the violation of the border.

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The ministry added, "The flight of the Russian fighter was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace."

Similar incidents have happened in the past as well and in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war, they become detrimental.

Just over a week ago, Russia said that two aircraft were intercepted attempting to "violate" its airspace. One of the aircraft was German and the other one was French.

Before that, in mid-April, Russia sent a fighter jet to escort a German naval aircraft over the Baltic Sea.

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When a Russian jet hit a US drone

A major incident happen when an American drone crashed after colliding with a Russian jet over the Black Sea in March.

The US military said that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet downed an American MQ-9 Reaper drone, and called it a "reckless" incident.

A video was released by the Pentagon, which showed the Russian military jet coming very close to a US military drone and dumping fuel near it. The US said that the Russian aircraft damaged the propeller during the intercept.

The Pentagon said that the de-classified video, which is about 40 seconds long, has been edited by the US military for length but shows events in sequential order.

Meanwhile, Russia has denied the accusations levelled by the US that its jets acted recklessly. Moscow said that the drone crashed after making "sharp manoeuvres," having "provocatively" flown close to Russian air space near Crimea.

A ministry statement had said that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told his US counterpart that the American drone flights near Crimea's coast "were provocative in nature" and could lead to "an escalation in the Black Sea zone."

After the incident, General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said: "There is a pattern of behaviour recently where there is a little bit more aggressive actions being conducted by the Russians."

(With inputs from agencies)

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