US warplane conducts reconnaissance flight off the coast of annexed Crimea
The US Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol anti-submarine aircraft conducted a reconnaissance flight near the coast of the Crimean peninsula, as reported by Interfax, citing aviation monitoring websites.
According to them, an aircraft with the tail number 168998 flew out from the Sigonella airbase, which is in Sicily, and headed for the Crimea. Once arriving at its destination, it circled for a few hours to the west of Sevastopol, at an altitude of 7,600 meters and closely approached the sea border of Russia.
At the end of November, a Russian Su-30 fighter aircraft intercepted an American Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft over the Black Sea. According to a report by the Russian Ministry of Defense, one of the fighters approached the American aircraft and signaled it to change its course due to its proximity to the Russian border. The American Poseidon did not follow the recommendation. In response, the Russian fighter maneuvered close to the American aircraft. After that, the US aircraft complied with the request.
As noted by the commander of the 4th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense of the South-Eastern Military District, Lieutenant-General Viktor Sevostyanov, a Russian aircraft approached when the reconnaissance aircraft was at a distance of 10 kilometers from the Russian border.
Pentagon spokesperson Michelle Baldanza said that the Russian fighter had made an "unsafe" maneuver during the interception of the Poseidon. According to her, the American aircraft was flying in international airspace and "did nothing to provoke such behavior by the Russians."
Baldanza added that the Russian fighter flew near the Poseidon at a distance of about 15 meters, which forced the American aircraft to make a maneuver that led to a "very strong turbulence." "Unsafe actions can cause serious harm and injury to all involved [in the incident] air crews," she said.