Russia promises to escort all American reconnaissance planes flying near Crimea
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that all US reconnaissance planes flying near to Crimea will be escorted by Russian fighters.
This was Russia’s response to the United States’ accusation that there was a reckless interception of their EP-3 Aries II over the neutral waters on the border of annexed Crimea.
“I would like to remind Commander Bill Ellis of the 67th tactical aviation group of the US 6th Fleet that Crimea is an integral part of Russia. By directing their pilots to carry out reconnaissance in this region of the Black Sea, they must take into account the fact that they will encounter Russian fighters there, and not Ukrainian partners. Or they should issue their crews with new maps with the correct designations of the Russian airspace borders,” the Defense Ministry’s post states.
The Pentagon said that a Russian Su-27 endangered an American EP-3 by passing through the plane’s flight trajectory at a distance of about 1.5 meters, forcing the reconnaissance plane to fly through the turbulence of the Su-27’s jet stream.
Russia, in turn, claims that the interception was carried out in compliance with international rules, and that there were no irregular situations – the Su-27 approached the reconnaissance plane at a safe distance, identified it and escorted it, not permitting it to cross the border.