Russia has claimed that its Su-35 aircraft detected and intercepted two of the US Air Force’s (USAF) B-52H strategic bombers over the Baltic region, reported Reuters.
The incident was also confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) via a Telegram post on 20 March.
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According to this post, the Su-35 aircraft was deployed after the air defence radars present in the country’s Western Military District region spotted a total of ‘two aerial targets’ approaching the Russian Federation’s state border above the Baltic Sea region.
The aerial targets were later identified as the USAF’s B-52H long-range heavy bomber aircraft.
In the Telegram post, Russian MoD added: “In order to identify and prevent a violation of the state border of the Russian Federation, a Su-35 fighter jet from the air defence force of the Western Military District on duty scrambled, and its air crew occupied the designated airborne alert area.”
The MoD claimed that its Su-35 Flanker fighter aircraft returned to the home field after the two bombers left the Russian Federation’s airspace.
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By GlobalDataRussia further said that the flight operations conducted by Su-35 were in compliance with the international rules of the airspace use.
“The flight of the Russian fighter jet was carried out in strict compliance with international rules of airspace use. There was no violation of the state border of the Russian Federation,” Russian MoD’s statement added.
The latest incident comes a week after the US reported that a Russian Su-27 aircraft performed ‘unsafe and unprofessional’ interception of its MQ-9 aircraft.
The previous incident happened while the USAF’s MQ-9 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance uncrewed aerial system was carrying out routine operations in the international airspace above the Black Sea region.
