Russia says jet scrambled as US B-52 bombers fly over Baltic Sea

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A Russian Sukhoi Su-35 combat plane was sent to intercept two United States B-52H strategic bombers flying over the Baltic Sea.

Russia’s defence ministry has said a Russian Su-35 combat plane was scrambled over the Baltic Sea after two United States strategic bombers flew in the direction of the Russian border, but that the fighter jet returned to base after the US planes moved away from Russian territory. The encounter on Monday follows last week’s diplomatic furore following the crash of a US surveillance drone into the Black Sea after it was intercepted by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets in what was the first known direct military contact between Russia and the US since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency said that the National Defence Control Centre of Russia’s Ministry of Defence identified the two US planes as B-52H strategic bombers. “On March 20, 2023, the radars of the air defence forces of the Western Military District on duty detected two air targets flying in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation over the Baltic Sea,” the ministry said, according to TASS. The Su-35 fighter was scrambled to prevent “a violation of the state border” by the US aircraft, the ministry said, adding that the aircraft reached a “designated air patrol area”. “After the foreign military aircraft moved away from the state border of the Russian Federation, the Russian plane returned to its home base,” the ministry said, adding that the Su-35 was strictly in line with international air law. “No violation of the state border of the Russian Federation was permitted,” the ministry said.

On Friday, Russia presented state awards to the two fighter pilots involved in the downing of the US MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone that crashed into the Black Sea last week. Presenting the awards to the Su-27 jet fighter pilots, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu lauded their achievement in preventing the drone from flying into an area near Crimea, to which Moscow has banned access. Russia has accused the US of collecting intelligence through surveillance flights that was then given to Ukraine to attack Russian targets. Moscow also accused the US of provoking the drone incident by ignoring flight restrictions imposed to protect Russian territory and said that Russia “will respond in kind” to all future provocations. Appearing to prefer to de-escalate the downing of the multimillion-dollar drone, the US said it was not known if the Russian pilots had intentionally caused the drone to crash or that their risky manoeuvres around the spy aircraft were to blame. The US also said it would continue to fly missions over the Black Sea in international airspace. On Friday, the Reuters news agency reported that two US officials confirmed a surveillance flight had already taken place last week in the Black Sea region by an RQ-4 Global Hawk drone. [embedded content]

Source Credibility: This article was published by Al Jazeera, which is "funded in whole or in part by the Qatari government." Al Jazeera was founded in 1996 as part of Qatari efforts to turn economic power into political influence in the Arab world and beyond, and continues to receive political and financial backing from the government of Qatar.* As a result, Al Jazeera has been criticized for being Qatari state media. In 2010, U.S. State Department internal communications released by WikiLeaks as part of the 2010 diplomatic cables leak said that the Qatari government manipulates Al Jazeera coverage to suit the country's political interests.

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Gebauer, Matthias; Goetz, John (9 December 2019). "The CIA's El-Masri Abduction: Cables Show Germany Caved to Pressure from Washington". Spiegel Online. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved  2019.

Staff writer (portal to database) (28 November 2010). "US Embassy Cables: Browse the Database". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2010.

Jiménez, Vicente; Caño, Antonio (14 July 2010). "La Mayor Filtración de la Historia Deja al Descubierto los Secretos de la Política Exterior de EE UU" [The Biggest Infiltration in History Leaves U.S. Foreign Policy Secrets Out in the Open]. El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010.

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