MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Russia's Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets have intercepted a mock enemy plane during an exercise in Belarus, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"Su-35 fighter jets of the Eastern Military District have been scrambled from an airfield in the Brest region and have trained interception of a mock trespasser in the Union State's airspace during the Union Resolve 2022 joint exercise," the ministry said.
A Su-30SM of the Belarusian Air Force acted as the trespasser, it said.
"As the demand to leave the airspace was ignored, the Su-35 performed a number of maneuvers to hinder further flight of the trespassing plane and demonstrated the readiness to fire for effect. The trespasser had to land on the Baranovichi airfield. The plane was blocked, and its crew was detained by the military police," the ministry said.
The Union Resolve 2022 exercise of Russia and Belarus began on February 10. Moscow and Minsk said that Russian troops would return to barracks when the exercise was over.