Russia vows to DEFEND against US planes flying towards border

[RoterTeufel]

Russia vows to DEFEND against US planes flying towards border

RUSSIA has called on the US stop sending military planes on missions near its borders in the wake of an "unsafe" intercept that has sparked a blazing row.

The US military should stop flying planes near the Russian borders or "agree on a set of rules for such flights", Russia's Defence Ministry has said in a statement today.

A dispute has erupted over the interception of an EP-3 Aries surveillance aircraft by a Russian Su-27 Flanker jet over the Black Sea on Monday.

Dramatic footage released by the US Navy shows the Russian fighter jet appearing to fly perilously close to the US aircraft over international airspace.

The actions of the Russia jet, which came within 5ft of the spy plane, was reprimanded by the US Navy, calling the incident unsafe and unprovoked.

But today the Russian Defence Ministry has berated the US in kind, vowing to "continue to provide robust defence of the borders of Russian airspace".

“If the realisation of this fact by American pilots causes depression and phobias, we recommend that the American side either exclude flying near Russian borders in the future or return to the negotiations table and agree on a set of rules for such flights," the Defence Ministry said.

Russian and US jets flying for NATO regularly come into close contact over the Black Sea and elsewhere.

NATO today deployed a trio of "submarine killer" planes to a "task area" near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Using such flights as an example, the Defence Ministry said NATO planes "do not affect the Russian crews in the slightest way".

Daily Star Sunday