The Russian Ministry of Defence has released a video showing a Su-27 fighter jet escort B-52H strategic bombers of the US Air Force over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.
The footage follows a statement released by Russian MoD earlier in the day stating that the Russian fighters had spotted two US planes flying at “a considerable distance from the Russian state border.” After that, the aircraft were escorted by Russian Su-27 fighter jets.
Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation reported on Saturday, that Russia’s Aerospace Force has twice scrambled the on-duty Su-27 fighter jets over the past 24 hours to intercept the U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers.
“Two US aircraft had been detected by the Russian airspace monitoring system at a considerable distance from the state border of the Russian Federation and then were taken to escort,” the statement says.
Russian Defence Ministry claimed that the Su-27 crews prevented the foreign strategic bombers from infringing country’s airspace.
Later Russian military officials released video showed U.S. strategic bomber incepted by Russian fighter jets in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
According to the Russian National Defense Control Center, the US Air Force’s strategic aircraft have already made seven sorties over the Baltic Sea since March 14.
According to a news release put out by U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa, four U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress aircraft conducted flights from RAF Fairford, England, to airspace over the Baltic Sea for a 24-hour period on March 22, 2019, demonstrating U.S. ability to maintain sustained combat capacity for a prolonged duration.
“The purpose of the flights was to conduct theatre familiarization for aircrew members and to demonstrate U.S. commitment to allies and partners through the global employment of our military forces. U.S. Strategic Command regularly tests and evaluates the readiness of strategic assets to ensure we are able to honor our security commitments,” said in USAF statement.
Since 2014, US and NATO planes have been frequently spotted flying close to Russia’s borders, according to a report by the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to NATO.
