MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Media reports magnifying incidents with Russian and US military planes come amid news that NATO will deploy additional forces near the Russian border, a senior Russian lawmaker said Saturday.
"Now it becomes completely clear why the United States needed a hype around the interception of a US spy plane over the Baltic Sea and the incident with the Donald Cook destroyer. This was information preparing for the additional placement of four battalions of NATO in the Baltic region," Franz Klintsevich, the first deputy chair of the upper-house Committee on Security and Defense, told RIA Novosti.
On April 13, the United States expressed concern after Russian Su-24 tactical bombers flew over the US guided missile destroyer Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea.
On Friday, US media reported that a Russian Su-27 jet performed a "barrel-roll" over a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane in the Baltic Sea.
