MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - U.S. reconnaissance planes changed their course while flying over the Black Sea after Russia scrambled a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft to intercept them, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
"The crew of the Russian fighter jet approached the aerial objects at a safe distance and identified them as a P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. Navy, an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft, and a KC-135 tanker aircraft of the U.S. Air Force, which immediately changed the direction of their flight away from Russian borders," the ministry said in a statement obtained by Interfax.
The Russian plane's flight was performed in strict compliance with international rules of airspace use, it said.
The Southern Military District's air defense units on duty detected the U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over neutral waters of the Black Sea early enough, the ministry said.
"Russian radar control systems uninterruptedly tracked the U.S. Air Force planes at a significant distance from the Russian Federation's state border," it said.
The intercept was performed by a Su-30 plane of the Black Sea Fleet's marine aviation unit, the Russian Defense Ministry said.