The Pentagon warns Russia of the risks of an 'accidental confrontation'
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work stated that the cases of Russian aircraft maneuvering near U.S. ships and aircraft can cause an “accidental confrontation.”
“One minor incident, of which both parties will accuse each other, may lead to an accidental confrontation, and none of us is interested in that,” he said at the American-Norwegian Defense Conference in Washington.
Work noted that the U.S.A. has already seen “unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers made by Russian aircraft and ships.”
In April it was reported that a Russian Su-24 and a helicopter gunship flew dangerously close to the missile destroyer Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the situation “dangerous and provocative.” Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov, in turn, emphasized that the crew of the Su-24 “performed planned training flights over international waters of the Baltic Sea.”