Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
NATO has put its air units on high alert following a near miss between Russian and Polish aircraft, Reuters reported Monday.
A NATO official said that on Friday, a Polish jet patrolling over the Black Sea near Romania for the EU’s border agency, known as Frontex, had a dangerous encounter with a Russian aircraft.
“NATO air policing detachments were put on higher readiness in response to the dangerous behavior of a Russian military plane in the vicinity of a Polish Frontex aircraft over the Black Sea near Romania,” the NATO official said.
The Romanian Defense Ministry accused the Russian aircraft of acting recklessly. “This incident is a further proof of the provocative approach of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea,” the ministry said in a statement on the incident.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, there have been several dangerous encounters between NATO and Russian aircraft, including the incident in March that resulted in the downing of a US MQ-9 Reaper drone near Crimea.
According to The New York Times, a leaked Pentagon document revealed a near miss on September 29 that almost resulted in a Russian jet shooting down a manned British surveillance plane.
US officials said the Russian pilot fired a missile after misinterpreting what a radar operator said, but the missile malfunctioned.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 05/10/2023 – 02:00
