RUSSIAN AIRCRAFTS APPEAR TO HAVE THREE TIMES FLIED OVER THE KITTY HAWK AIRCRAFT CARRIER, NOT TWO. RUSSIAN PILOTS HAVE SENT PHOTOS TAKEN FROM THE AIR TO THE AMERICANS BY E-MAIL

After the reconnaissance flight over the American aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan, Russian Air Force pilots sent the photos taken by them to aboard the Kitty, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said Thursday at a briefing. He would not answer journalists whether it was done with a jeer or otherwise. Mr. Bacon only mentioned that he had not seen the e-letter for himself. In his words, he was ignorant of who was the sender, RIA Novosti reports. The reconnaissance operation was carried out by Russian military pilots with the aim to break open the anti-aircraft system of the US Navy aircraft-carrier multipurpose force. As a result, Russian Sukhoi-23MR reconnoitre aircrafts managed to approach the Kitty unnoticed and to take photos of it. Mr. Bacon also for the first time admitted that there had been not two, but three episodes of the Russian aircrafts flying in the vicinity of the Kitty, that is, on October 12th, 17th, and November 9th. In the last event, the aircrafts flew as near as 300-600 metres away from the ship. 2000-12-08