Russia said on Tuesday March 5 that it had taken off a fighter to intercept three French military planes which were approaching its border above the Black Sea, a type of incident which is not rare but which occurs in the midst of tensions. with Paris.
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“As the Russian fighter approached, the foreign military aircraft turned around
,” announced the Russian Ministry of Defense in a press release, specifying that they were two Rafales and a radar plane from the Russian Federation. 'French army.
“The Russian aircraft returned safely to its original airfield.
There was no violation of the Russian state border
,” the ministry said.
Frequent incidents
Interception is an operation aimed at meeting an aircraft deemed too close to an airspace or having entered it.
Incidents involving Russian planes and aircraft from NATO countries, including France, are relatively frequent and occurred even before the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
They often took place over the Black Sea but also in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere.
Tuesday's incident, however, comes as French President Emmanuel Macron last week did not rule out the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine, a possibility rejected by most Western allies.
If he then confirmed his words despite the controversy, Emmanuel Macron nevertheless assured Tuesday that he did not want an “
escalation
” with Russia.