Russian Su-30 crew help U.S. avoid international scandal by intercepting its plane: official

MOSCOW, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- A senior Russian military official said on Wednesday that the Russian crew of the Su-30 fighter jet helped U.S. colleagues avoid an international incident by intercepting a U.S. fighter-plane, according to a local news report.

"Our pilots, in actual fact, helped their U.S. counterparts avoid an international incident that would have erupted if they had violated Russia's state border," Russia's Sputnik news agency quoted Lt. Gen. Viktor Sevastyanov, the commander of the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army of the Russian Southern Military District, as saying.

Sevastyanov commended on the professionalism of the Su-30 crew, adding that this was the S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedure) to prevent the violation of the international air border.

Russian military confirmed Tuesday that its Su-30 fighter jet drove away a U.S. Navy aircraft P-8A Poseidon on Saturday over the Black Sea.

In the wake of the incident, CNN reported Monday citing Pentagon Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza that the Russian Su-30 fighter made an "unsafe" intercept of a U.S. P-8A Poseidon maritime, patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.

The U.S. plane "was operating in international airspace and did nothing to provoke this Russian behavior," Baldanza was quoted by CNN as saying. Enditem