Russian jet fighter intercepts another US spy plane over Pacific Ocean

Russia says a MIG-31 jet fighter has intercepted a US RC-135 strategic reconnaissance plane over the Pacific Ocean while approaching Russia’s territorial waters, forcing the spy aircraft to veer off course.

Russian radars detected an air target approaching the state border over the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Kamchatka, said the defense ministry on Friday, adding the US spy plane had not violated Russia’s border.

"A MiG-31 fighter took off from an airfield in the Kamchatka Region to identify and escort it,” said a defense ministry official.

“The fighter crew identified the air target as an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the US air force. After the foreign military aircraft turned away from the Russian Federation's state border, the Russian fighter returned safely to its home airfield."

The latest aerial confrontation between the two rival powers came just days after another Russian jet fighter intercepted a US spy plane that had violated the country’s airspace.   

The Russian National Defense Control Center announced in a Saturday statement that it had dispatched a MiG-31 fighter jet the Black Sea to “identify the air target and prevent violation of the Russian state border.”

The US spy plane involved in the incident was also identified as a RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft that was also flying off the Far East coast of the Kamchatka peninsula.

Despite Russia’s repeated warnings against the violation of its airspace, the US and the Europeans have escalated their activities near Russian borders since the end of last year.

The latest intrusion of the Russia airspace also came amid growing media reports about US contemplation of deploying warships to the Black Sea in the coming weeks.

Citing anonymous Pentagon officials, CNN reported last Friday that Washington was seeking to send an explicit message to Moscow through the military buildup that US is closely monitoring its activities.

The latest aerial encounter came two days after Moscow accused the US and other NATO countries of deliberately turning Ukraine into a “powder keg” by increasing arms supplies to Kiev and inflaming tensions in the country’s volatile eastern region.

“The United States and other NATO countries are deliberately turning Ukraine into a powder keg. If there is any aggravation, we of course will do everything to ensure our security and the safety of our citizens wherever they are,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Tuesday as quoted by local news outlets.

 “But Kiev and its allies in the West will be entirely responsible for the consequences of a hypothetical exacerbation,” he further emphasized following an uptick in violence between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russia forces in the eastern Ukrainian region of the Donbass.

Ukraine, for its part, has accused Russia of amassing thousands of military personnel on its northern and eastern borders as well as on the Crimean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, NATO has called on Russia to withdraw its troops from near Ukraine’s eastern border, which the alliance claims is Moscow’s biggest buildup since 2014.

Moscow, however, insists that the military buildup poses no threat to any country and that it merely serves its defensive objectives since two US warships are due to arrive in the Black Sea this week.

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