Russian Jet Makes 'Unsafe' Interception Of US Navy P8-Poseidon Over Black Sea

A Russian Su-30 fighter jet had an “unsafe” interception with a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane Saturday as the Russian aircraft used its afterburners while flying in front of American plane over the Black Sea.

According to a CNN report, the Pentagon in a statement Monday termed this incident as an “unsafe” intercept.

In the report, a spokeswoman for Pentagon, Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza reportedly said: “The U.S. aircraft was operating in international airspace and did nothing to provoke this Russian behavior .”

She then went on to explain why the Russian jet’s actions were perceived to be “unsafe” in nature. She stated that the Russian aircraft crossed in front of its U.S. counterpart, from right to the left while turning on its afterburners which resulted in the U.S. Navy aircraft entering its jet wash.

She elaborated that it was due to the jet wash that the aircraft experienced “a 15-degree roll and violent turbulence.”

Baldanza also stated that the Russian jet came as close as 50 feet to the aircraft, adding that the U.S. plane had its transponder on during the time of the incident.

“Unsafe actions‎ have the potential to cause serious harm and injury to all aircrews involved,” Baldanza said.

According to a U.S. Navy official, the intercept took place for 24 minutes.

However, this was not the first time that Russian and U.S. aircrafts had an interaction with each other.

According to a report in June by Fox News, two U.S officials said that an armed Russian jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on June 19.

They also said that the Russian Su-27 jet had air-to-air missiles under its wings and it “rapidly” approached the U.S. Air Force RC-135 recon jet and came within five feet of the American plane.

The report stated that a U.S. official said that the Russian aircraft as “provocative” in its flight patterns and it was flying “erratically.”

According to another U.S. official, since June 2 there were more than 35 interactions between U.S. and Russian aircrafts in the Baltic Sea region but this particular incident was “notable” as it was considered as “unsafe” by the U.S. military.

This incident took place one day after when the Russian Defense Ministry stated that it would treat any U.S. jet flying over the Euphrates River in Syria as a potential target. This was a follow-up statement to the incident where a U.S. Navy jet shot down a Syrian jet that was targeting U.S.-aligned fighters.