Moscow ‘sends fighter jets to intercept US bombers over the Baltic Sea’
Russia claims the Us tried to 'violate the state border'.
Russia has said they have sent fighter jets to stop two US bomber planes from ‘violating the state border’ over the Baltic Sea.
Su-27 and Su-35 fighter jets were ordered to the area by the Russian defence ministry after they claimed to have identified ‘two US Air Force B-1B strategic bombers’.
The defence ministry said: ‘The violation of the state border was prevented.’
They added the flight was ‘carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace.’
According to international law, every state has complete sovereignty over the airspace above its territory – including its sea.
It comes as tensions between Washington and Moscow worsen after two Russian pilots destroyed a US drone, plunging it into the Black Sea earlier this month.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed a single Su-35 was scrambled to meet the pair of B-52 strategic bombers.
It is alleged they were heading in the direction of the Russian border on Monday.
A statement from the ministry on Telegram said: ‘Radar facilities of the air defence forces of the Western military district on duty over the Baltic Sea detected two air targets flying in the direction of the Russian Federation’s state border.’
It is the latest in a series of similar incidents, with Moscow and several western countries claiming they have intercepted each other’s jets.
Germany and Britain sent Eurofighter jets to identify the two Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft and one Ilyushin Il-20 aircraft, the German air force said on Twitter.
The air force said: ‘Reconnaissance flights intercepted. German and British Eurofighters were alerted to identify three military aircraft.
‘The two SU-27 Flankers and a IL-20 from Russia were flying again without transponder signals in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.’
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