NATO air policing units on higher readiness after Black Sea incident

A Polish border guard aircraft on patrol for the European Union's border agency Frontex over the Black Sea near Romania narrowly avoided a collision with a Russian fighter jet on Friday.

"NATO air policing detachments were put on higher readiness in response to the dangerous behaviour of a Russian military plane in the vicinity of a Polish Frontex aircraft over the Black Sea near Romania," the official said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said NATO "remains vigilant" and referred further questions to Polish authorities.

A Russian SU-35 jet carried out "aggressive and dangerous manoeuvres" approaching the Polish aircraft without keeping a secure distance, leading to turbulence, loss of altitude and a temporary loss of control of the plane by the Polish crew, Anna Michalska, a border guard spokesperson, wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

"The Russian jet flew just in front of the nose of the Polish plane, crossing its trajectory at a dangerous distance, estimated by the crew at about five metres," Michalska said.

After three approaches the Russian jet flew away, Michalska added. The incident took place in international airspace.

The Romanian Defence Ministry said in a press release that the Russian jet's behaviour was completely unacceptable.

"This incident is a further proof of the provocative approach of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea," the ministry said.

Two combat aircraft belonging to the Romanian Air Force and two from the Spanish Air Force designated for Air Police missions were alerted by the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Torrejon, Spain. While the four aircraft were ready to intervene at any moment, their intervention proved unnecessary, the ministry said.

At a press conference on Monday Poland's government spokesperson Piotr Muller was asked about the incident. "This incident happened in Romania's airspace. Second thing is that it was part of an EU mission by Frontex and actions on Russia's part were taken in regards of a civilian aircraft. Border Guard aircraft have the airspace status of civilian planes because they are unarmed and cannot pose any threat. As a result, the action taken by the Russian Federation fighter jet has to be understood as an action provocative in nature," he said.

"We must understand that the Russian Federation carries out such actions with premeditation," Muller added and stressed it was necessary to issue protests against such behaviour. He also stressed that NATO was seeking ways to counteract such situations.

"But let's not forget that Russia doesn't care about the international law and because of that such situations might come up," Muller said, adding that NATO was a defence pact.