Russian jet intercepts US spy plane over Black Sea

By Kasim Ileri

WASHINGTON (AA) - A Russian fighter jet intercepted a U.S. spy plane over the Black Sea for about 19 minutes, a Pentagon spokesman told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

“Earlier today a Russian SU-27 Flanker fighter jet made an unsafe close-range intercept of a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon while it conducted routine operations in international airspace over the Black Sea,” Capt. Jeff Davis said in an email.

Russian and American military assets in the region routinely interact but “most interactions are safe and professional,” according to Davis.

But these types of close-range intercepts might “result in a miscalculation or accident” and have the potential to increase the tension in the region, he added.

The intercept is the latest string of Russia's confronting U.S. military assets in Eastern Europe.

In April, a Russian Su-24 flew within 30 feet of the US destroyer, Donald Cook, in the Baltic Sea, and shortly after that an Su-27 flew near an Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea.

The most recent incident follows a U.S. Navy vessel that was intercepted by Iranian Revolutionary Guards boats in the Persian Gulf.