State Duma Defense Committee head links flights of U.S. reconnaissance planes over Baltic region to NATO exercises
MOSCOW. May 10 (Interfax) - A rise in the activity of U.S. reconnaissance planes in the area of the Kaliningrad region is linked to the NATO exercises in the Baltic region, State Duma Defense Committee Chairman, former Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov told Interfax on Tuesday.
"They are holding exercises in the Baltic region. Probably, they are 'screening' the situation and are reconnoitering," he said, regarding the latest case of a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 plane escorting a U.S. reconnaissance plane near the Kaliningrad region.
The 'interception' of foreign reconnaissance planes by Russian servicemen is "a routine practice," Komoyedov said. "This is done so that we do not forget each other - we are demonstrating our stars and they are showing us their identification markings," the admiral said.
Komoyedov told Interfax in late April that the United States had been provoking Russian servicemen by sending its planes and ships to the Russian border. "Why do they fly here and provoke Russia to take certain actions? I want to say: guys, let us live in peace, do not provoke Russia's actions, which you will later discuss in your press," he said back then.
An RC-135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. Air Force was 'intercepted' by a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter near the Kaliningrad region on May 9, according to aviation portals monitoring movement of military aircraft.