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Pentagon claims Russian jet fighter barrel rolled within 25 feet of US reconnaissance plane
©
Gleb Garanich / Reuters
RT,
29
April, 2016
A
Russian fighter jet pulled an “unsafe” stunt within 25 feet of a
US surveillance plane Friday, Defense Department officials said.
Russian Admiral Vladimir Komoedov, however, denied any potential
harm, wondering why the US was there in the first place.
A
Russian Sukhoi Su-27 and a US Air Force RC-135 were in international
airspace when the former performed a barrel roll over the latter,
CNN reported citing
Pentagon officials. While initial reports held that the intercept
occurred within 100 feet, the US Defense Department updated that to
25 feet.
"This
unsafe and unprofessional air intercept has the potential to cause
serious harm and injury to all aircrews involved," Lt.
Col. Michelle Baldanza, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a
statement."More
importantly, the unsafe and unprofessional actions of a single pilot
have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between
countries."
Word
for word, that same part of the Pentagon’s statement has been used
recently under similar circumstances. Fifteen days prior to this
incident, April 14, another Su-27 fighter jet conducted a barrel roll
over another US reconnaissance plane, and between April 11 and 12,
the USS Donald Cook ship was flown over by Su-27 fighter jets, with
the Pentagon releasing footage.
“It
was neither a buzz, nor a simulated attack, thus everything is fine.
It was not a dangerous maneuver,” the
head of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee and former commander
of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Admiral Vladimir Komoedov told
Interfax, a non-governmental Russian news station. “Why
do they even fly here and provoke Russia? I mean, guys, let’s live
in peace, do not provoke Russia into actions you would then ventilate
in the press.”
After
the April 14 incident, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, "We
condemn this kind of behavior. It is reckless. It is provocative. It
is dangerous."
At
the time, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov
said, "The
reports of foreign media saying that a Russian Su-27 allegedly flew
in dangerously close proximity to a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft
in the skies over the Baltic Sea on April 14 are not true."
Daniel
McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and
Prosperity, gave an American perspective different from the official
responses to the April 14 event.
"We
send naval warships, equipped with the latest equipment, 50 miles
from Russian territory in the Baltic Sea, conducting military
exercises. The Russians are annoyed and irritated, and we say 'Oh my
goodness, how aggressive, how dare you,'" McAdams told Radio
Sputnik’s Loud & Clea.
RT America
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