The Russian military said Monday it had sent a fighter jet to intercept a Norwegian warplane that was approaching Russia’s border over the Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean.
“When the Russian warplane approached, the foreign military aircraft turned back,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, explaining that the Norwegian Boeing B-8A “Poseidon” was for maritime patrol.
“Violation of the borders of the Russian Federation is not allowed,” the ministry added, stressing that the interception process was carried out within the framework of respecting international norms “without cutting off air routes” and without “dangerous convergence.”
In recent years, even before the start of the conflict in Ukraine, similar incidents have occurred repeatedly between Russian aircraft and those of other NATO member states.
This happened mostly in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and other areas.
“It is true that a Norwegian P-8 was identified by a Russian aircraft in international airspace over the Barents Sea,” said Lt.-Col.
“This is a regular operation (…) Norway carries out similar operations, as well as Russia from time to time,” he added, as quoted by the Norwegian “NTB” agency.
Between the beginning of this year and the beginning of July, the Norwegian Air Force carried out 20 identification missions, usually involving 37 Russian aircraft.
“There’s nothing special about this sort of thing, and I haven’t heard that it caused anything tragic,” the Norwegian official continued, without confirming whether the “Poseidon” plane had actually approached the Russian border.
In a separate statement, the Russian military said on Monday that several of its strategic bombers and fighters had carried out “planned attacks” in international waters in the Baltic, Barents and Norwegian seas, as well as in eastern Siberia and other regions.
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