Russian and US jets 5ft from disaster

RUSSIAN and US warplanes came within 5ft of a catastrophic collision over the Baltic, US sources revealed yesterday.

Hours later Nato F-16s buzzed a plane carrying Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to the military nerve centre at Kaliningrad on the Baltic.

At the time of the drama British troops were exercising on the Poland-Lithuania border to simulate Nato rescuing Baltic States if Russia cut them off.

There have been more than 30 stand-offs between US and Russian aircraft and ships in the Baltic since the beginning of the month, according to US reports.

Tensions were already high yesterday after clashes in the skies above Syria at the weekend.

On Sunday a US F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian army SU-22 Fitter after it bombed an area close to US-backed Syrian rebel forces.