NATO jet buzzes Russian plane

Media reports say Russia’s defence minister was aboard when F-16 fighter approached

MOSCOW— A NATO F-16 fighter approached and was then warned away from a jet carrying Russia’s defence minister, Russian media have reported, the latest in a string of aerial incidents that have marked rising tensions between the West and Russia.

The incident occurred over the Baltic Sea in northeast Europe, according to reporters travelling with the defence minister, Sergey Shoigu, in international airspace crowded with Russian and NATO jets testing one another’s nerve in close — sometimes dangerous — proximity. There was no immediate comment from NATO, which has been conducting military exercises in Eastern Europe. The Russian reports did not indicate which nation was flying the NATO warplane.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon claimed an armed Russian Su-27 buzzed an American RC-135 reconnaissance plane, closing to a distance of 1.5 metres. U.S. officials told Fox News that the manoeuvre was “provocative.”

Russian officials blamed the pilot of the spy plane. But no incidents yet have involved high-ranking members of the Russian or U.S. armed forces on board.

On Wednesday, Shoigu’s jet was bound for the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, when it was approached by an F-16, the Russian reports said.

The NATO jet closed in and had begun flying parallel to Shoigu’s plane, video shot on board and released by the Ministry of Defence’s Zvezda news agency showed.

A Russian Su-27 fighter accompanying Shoigu’s plane then approached from behind and rocked its wings to show that it was armed. The F-16 then veered off.