Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov dismissed Pentagon claims that the maneuver by the Russian SU-27 against the U.S. Air Force RC-135 was “unsafe and unprofessional.”
"We’re already getting used to claims of Pentagon representatives regarding alleged 'non-professional' maneuvers of our fighters when intercepting the U.S. scout planes on the Russian borders," he said in a statement carried by the state-run ITAR-TASSnews agency. "At the same time, we want to note that the RC-135U surveillance plane tries to sneak up to the Russian border with the transponder turned off each time. Therefore, the air defense forces on duty have to lift the fighter to visually identify the type of aircraft and its tail number.”
