A plane carrying Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was buzzed by a NATO F-16 fighter jet on Wednesday while flying over the Baltic Sea, Russian media reported.
Video footage of the incident, filmed by a passenger in Shoigu’s plane, shows the F-16 flying in close proximity to the defense minister’s plane. The video was broadcast on a TV channel run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
In the video, a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet can be seen flying out of formation and approaching the F-16, which then maneuvers away from the Russian aircraft and the Su-27 returns to formation.
Shoigu was en route to the city of Kaliningrad when the incident occurred.
On his way back from the Russian province, the defense minister's escort featured several additional Su-34 jets, RT reported. NATO planes followed at a distance and did not attempt to get closer.
NATO officials said they were simply trying to identify the aircrafts they had tracked over the Baltic on Wednesday after the planes did not identify themselves.
"As is standard practice whenever unknown aircraft approach NATO air space, NATO and national air forces took to the sky to monitor these flights," a NATO official said, Reuters reported. "When NATO aircraft intercept a plane they identify it visually, maintaining a safe distance at all times. Once complete, NATO jets break away."
This is the latest in several aerial incidents that have given rise to tensions between the West and Russia.
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