The European Command of the US Navy has released a video of Russia's Sukhoi Su-24 bombers planes and a Ka-27 helicopter approaching USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea.
"On April 11, Donald Cook was conducting deck landing drills with an Allied military helicopter when two Russian Su-24 jets made numerous, close-range and low altitude passes at approximately 3 p.m. local," the US European Command said. "One of the passes, which occurred while the allied helicopter was refueling on the deck of Donald Cook, was deemed unsafe by the ship's commanding officer. As a safety precaution, flight operations were suspended until the Su-24s departed the area," the statement also said.
As noted by the American side, two Su-24 bombers flew near Donald Cook on April 11 and April 12, when a Ka-27 joined a Su-24. The aircraft flew close to the US ship in the international waters of the Baltic Sea, some 70 nautical miles from Russia's Kaliningrad.
There is a very special relationship between Donald Cook and Russian Su-24 bomber planes. In 2014, Pentagon officials stated that a Russian Su-24 bomber flew over the destroyer of the US Navy in the Black Sea.
Reportedly, the Su-24's state-of-the-art technology made it possible to suppress all electronic systems of the Aegis-equipped destroyer that was traveling towards Crimea in full sail. In addition, there were unconfirmed reports about ensuing resignations of the crew of the destroyer.
Commenting on the "increased activity of the Russian military in international waters and in neutral airspace," former NATO General Harald Kujat told German publication web.de that Russia did not violate any boundaries. According to Kujat, direct confrontation is not one of Putin's plans as war with Russia would be a "catastrophe of the 21st century."
Pravda.Ru
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