A Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British spy plane last year, an incident that turned out to be more significant than previously reported and could drag the United States and its NATO allies directly into the war in Ukraine.
This was reported by the Washington Post with reference to one of the US military documents recently leaked online.
The document, one of dozens of leaked classified Pentagon documents that led to the Justice Department investigation, refers to the incident as a "near-shoot down of a British RJ aircraft," better known as an RC-135. This aircraft is used to collect radio and electronic messages.
The incident took place on September 29 near the coast of the occupied Crimea.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the House of Commons about the incident in October, saying two Russian Su-27 fighter jets had intercepted an RC-135 in international airspace over the Black Sea while flying "recklessly", with one aircraft coming within striking distance of the British aircraft. feet (5 meters).
One of the Russian planes "fired a missile" in the distance, Wallace told lawmakers at the time. But he did not describe the incident with the words "almost shot down" and explained the launch of the rocket as a "technical malfunction". According to him, he talked about it with high-ranking Russian officials from the Ministry of Defense.
The incident underscores the balance Western militaries are trying to strike in trying to help the Ukrainian military gather information about the war without engaging in direct conflict with Moscow. Russian officials try to portray NATO countries as aggressors, while the United States and its allies say they support Ukraine but are not at war with Russia.
According to the NATO agreement, if a member of the military alliance is the victim of an armed attack, all members of the alliance view it as an attack on them and respond to it collectively.
Defense officials declined to comment on the content of the leaked document, as they did on other information found on Discord, Telegram and Twitter. An employee of the British Embassy in Washington also declined to comment.
It will be recalled that on March 14, the US Air Force issued a statement in which it was reported that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet damaged an American reconnaissance and attack UAV MQ-9 Reaper over the Black Sea during an interception, as a result of which the drone had to be sunk.