Russia's defence ministry has released footage from the cockpit of one of the Su-27 jets sent to intercept the would-be intruders following Monday's incident.
#Видео Стратегические бомбардировщики #В52Н #ВВССША были замечены накануне у государственной границы РФ в районе Черного и Балтийского морей. Для перехвата самолетов в воздух поднимались российские истребители #Су27 из состава дежурных сил по #ПВО https://t.co/9V4LcH4fmk @MID_RF pic.twitter.com/K1Dtk3Anjo
— Минобороны России (@mod_russia) 18 июня 2019 г.
The defence ministry said no violations of the border took place, and that the intercepts were carried out in strict accordance with international airspace norms.
US and NATO flights along Russia's borders have increased dramatically since the 2014 Ukraine crisis. Last week, the Russian military's official newspaper reported that jets had been scrambled close to a dozen times to intercept foreign warplanes with various classifications. In 2018, air defence forces tracked around 3,000 foreign military aircraft, around a third of them consisting of spy planes and reconnaissance drones, as they tested Russia's border defences in the Baltic and Black seas, as well as around Russian military facilities in Syria.
