Russian Su-27 intercepts US spy plane
A Russian fighter jet came within 20 feet of a U.S. Air Force spy plane over the Black Sea in southeastern Europe this week, a Pentagon representative said Thursday evening. The reported incident between the Russian Su-27 and the American RC-135 is the latest involving Moscow’s air force, which during the past year has been cited for harassing other military aircraft and traversing the sovereign airspace of countries around Europe.
The RC-135 aircraft was on a regular route in international airspace when the Russian jet fighter intercepted it in an “unsafe and unprofessional manner,” said U.S. Navy Capt. Daniel Hernandez, a representative of the U.S. European Command. He added that the incident had been carefully investigated, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news outlet based in the nation’s capital.
