The US spy plane did not pose a threat to Aeroflot’s civilian aircraft over the Black Sea, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on December 6.
“There was no such danger, there were no unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers, certainly not by the American military,” he told reporters.
According to Kirby, this was a situation that was easily resolved “with common sense and air traffic control procedures.”
On December 3, a civilian plane flying from Tel Aviv to Moscow was forced to change course over the Black Sea to avoid a dangerous rapprochement with a foreign reconnaissance aircraft. It was noted that the reconnaissance aircraft randomly crossed the established civil aviation routes and approached the passenger Airbus.
The vertical distance between the planes was less than 20 m. The controllers gave the command to the civil plane to descend 500 m and take a safer echelon. The intruder plane did not respond to inquiries from the ground.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova, the actions of the US Air Force created a threat to civil aviation. According to her, if in this case the catastrophe was averted, this does not mean that the United States and NATO can risk the lives of people with impunity.
Military expert Viktor Litovkin noted that the American Air Force is behaving insolently and unpredictably and crossing highways, which can lead to tragedy. According to him, the confrontation between reconnaissance aircraft and bombers can provoke a collision and air combat.
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