Russian Plane Comes Within Meters of US Jet Flying Over Baltic Sea

There have been more than 30 interactions between US and Russian planes and ships in the Baltic Sea since the beginning of June, US officials tell CNN. On Sunday, the USA shot down a Syrian regime warplane, and on Tuesday, an American fighter downed a regime-backed drone. He says the close encounter was unprovoked by the US aircraft.

The pilot of the American aircraft determined that the Russian aircraft's actions were "unsafe" because of its "high rate of closure speed and poor control of the aircraft". The Russians claim that they intercepted the reconnaissance aircraft as the plane "approached the Russian state border".

"On June 19, a US RC-135U flying in global airspace over the Baltic Sea was intercepted by a Russian SU-27 Flanker", Europe Command spokesman Captain Joseph Alonso said in a statement.

However, as one American official said, "this incident is most noteworthy, as the U.S. military considered it " unsafe. U.S. Navy spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis said, "Russia is certainly within its right to exercise within worldwide airspace, but we want them to respect global standards for safety to prevent accidents".

According to us officials, the Russian pilot's behavior was provocative.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said the U.

The Su-27 is a Russian-made jet that was created to be competitive with so-called "fourth-generation" aircraft used by the Pentagon, such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F/A-18 Hornet. On June 19, the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense informed that during the week of June 12-18, the country's fighter jets flew nine times to support 32 Russian aircraft. The Russian Su-27 also intercepted the US #Air Force B-52 bomber and the long-range B-1 bomber. This time it was an armed Iranian-made drone that was shot down by the USA military in Syria.

In June, Russia and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries reported several instances of rapprochement of their military aircraft.