A Russian Su-27 fighter jet intercepted a UK RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and two Typhoon jets flying towards Russia's airspace over the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
"On July 26, Russian airspace controls over the Black Sea area detected aerial targets approaching the state border of the Russian Federation. In order to prevent violations of the state border of the Russian Federation, a Su-27 fighter jet from the air defense forces on duty was scrambled into the air. The crew of the Russian fighter identified the aerial targets as an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft and two Typhoon fighters of the British air force," the ministry said.
As the Russian fighter approached, foreign military aircraft performed a U-turn from the state border of Russia, the ministry said.
This is the second such incident in a week.
“As the Russian fighter jet approached, the foreign military aircraft made a U-turn away from the state border of the Russian Federation,” the statement read, adding that the intercept “prevented” the British aircraft from “trespassing” into Russian territory.
The Russian military described a nearly identical confrontation of its Su-27 jets with British warplanes over the Black Sea in October of last year.
Similar intercepts between Russian military planes and those of NATO member countries have occurred in the airspace surrounding Russia even before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though the Black Sea has emerged as a key theater in the Ukrainian war.
NATO suspended relations with Russia following its 2014 annexation of Crimea, while Moscow views the alliance’s eastward expansion as a threat to national security.
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