Russia challenges US after Baltic jet face-off

EUROPE, April 30: Russia says it was right to confront a US Air Force reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on Friday.

The Pentagon said a Russian jet fighter acted in an “unsafe and unprofessional manner”, and performed a barrel roll over its plane.

Russia said that the American jet had turned off its transponder signal, which helps others identify it.

It is the second incident in the Baltic this month in which the US has accused Russian planes of flying aggressively.

“All flights of Russian planes are conducted in accordance with international regulations on the use of airspace,” a statement by the Russian defence ministry said. “The US Air Force has two solutions: either not to fly near our borders or to turn the transponder on for identification.”

US jets “regularly” try to approach Russia’s borders with transponders switched off, the statement said. Over the past 18 months, Russia has been repeatedly accused of the same practice over the Baltic and near UK waters.

It is not clear how close to Russia’s waters Friday’s incident occurred.