PARIS – Russian forces threatened to shoot down a French pilot patrolling international airspace over the Black Sea, France's defense minister said Thursday, in an increasingly aggressive move at a time when Moscow's invasion of Ukraine is making progress.
French Foreign Minister Le Cornu did not provide specific details about the French flight or plane that was threatened to be shot down. But he said Russia was reverting to a "particularly aggressive" posture reminiscent of the former Soviet Union's behavior during the Cold War.
A month ago, to give a very specific example, the Russian air traffic control system threatened to shoot down a French plane in the Black Sea, when we were patrolling in a free international zone, "he said on RTL radio.
"Russia's behavior in 2024 has nothing to do with what we saw in 2022, apparently before the invasion of Ukraine," the minister said. "This can be explained by the fact that Russia is bogged down on the battlefield in Ukraine. ”
French spokesman Colonel Pierre Gaudili said Le Cornu was referring to an incident in mid-November involving one of France's four large airborne early warning and control system (AWACS) reconnaissance aircraft. Gaudili called the incident unprecedented for an Air France flight in the region.
It was a French AWACS aircraft, "flying over the international waters of the Black Sea,said Gaudili. "Through radio communication, it was threatened by the Russians. ”
It was a particularly intense radio exchange," he added. "It's the first time. ”
French Air Force pilots regularly patrol NATO's eastern flank, part of the 31-nation military alliance's efforts to bolster its defenses since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last Saturday, two years ago.
The French flight included long-range patrols by its AWACS reconnaissance aircraft. They fly over the shores of the Black Sea, using powerful radars and other surveillance equipment to spy on the Crimean peninsula. In 2014, the Crimean peninsula was seized by Russia from Ukraine and annexed. Reconnaissance flights can detect missile launches, aerial bombardments and other military activities in the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian pilots sometimes make it clear that they don't like being watched.
In 2022, a Russian fighter jet fired a missile at a British Air Force RC-135 Rivet joint reconnaissance aircraft flying in international airspace over the Black Sea, the United Kingdom said. The U.S. released a segment in March 2023 showing a Russian fighter jet dumping fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone. The drone crashed into the Black Sea. Autumn and Winter Check-in Challenge