"On March 20, 2023, the radars of the air defense forces of the Western Military District on duty detected two air targets flying in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation over the Baltic Sea. The targets were identified as two strategic bombers B-52N of the US Air Force," the NDCC said.
In order to identify and prevent breach of the state border, a Su-35 fighter from the air defense forces of the Western Military District was scrambled. After that, the crew of the fighter occupied the established zone of duty in the air.
"After the removal of foreign military aircraft from the Russian state border, the Russian fighter returned to its base airfield," the center said.
The flight of the Russian fighter was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace. No breach of the Russian border was allowed.
The latest scramble comes days after the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on March 14 that a US MQ-9 Reaper drone crashed in the Black Sea as a result of its own extreme maneuvers after violating airspace and carrying out its flight with transponders turned off.
US defense officials had declined at the time to offer specifics of the aircraft; however, subsequent reports later detailed that the US military had dispatched a second drone to the crash site.