A Russian Aeroflot airliner flying from Tel Aviv to Moscow was forced to change altitude over the Black Sea because a NATO CL-600 reconnaissance plane crossed its designated flight path, Russia’s state aviation authority said on Saturday.
The airline said flight SU501 carrying 142 passengers had had to drop 2,000 feet on Friday after air traffic control told it that another aircraft had crossed its path.
The alleged spy plane “descended rapidly” across the planned route for a Tel Aviv-Moscow Aeroflot service with 142 people on board, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said late Saturday according to news agency Interfax.
“The direction and altitude of the commercial flight were immediately altered” to avoid a collision, the agency said, adding that the unknown plane did not respond to radio hails from air traffic control.
About NATO
- NATO constitutes a system of collective security, whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
- The NATO headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30.
- The most recent member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020. NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members.
- An additional 20 countries participate in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members in 2020 constituted over 57% of the global nominal total.Members agreed that their aim is to reach or maintain the target defence spending of at least 2% of their GDP by 2024.
The crew were able to see the other plane when they passed in the sky, it said in a separate statement.
Interfax reported that the Aeroflot flight had to drop 500 metres (1,600 feet) to keep its distance from the reconnaissance aircraft, which the pilots saw from the cockpit with the naked eye. A second plane, a private jet flying from the Black Sea resort Sochi to Northern Macedonian capital Skopje, also had to divert to avoid the spy plane, the air transport authority said.
“Increased activity by NATO aircraft near Russia’s borders… creates a risk of dangerous accidents involving civilian aircraft,” the agency said, adding that it would lodge a diplomatic protest.
- The aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said a smaller CL-650 aircraft flying from the Black Sea resort of Sochi to Skopje had also had to change its course.
- It did not say which NATO member the reconnaissance aircraft belonged to. Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday it had scrambled fighter jets to escort two U.S. military reconnaissance planes over the Black Sea.
- On Friday, Russian fighter jets were sent to escort two American spy aircraft over the Black Sea region, Russian media reported.
- Saturday’s incident comes as tensions rise between Russia and Western nations, which accuse Moscow of massing troops on its border with Ukraine in preparation for an invasion.
Russian authorities did not say which nation had operated the spy plane. Russia has denied it has any such plans, in turn accusing NATO countries of “provocations” including military exercises near its borders.
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