NATO Spy Jet Posed 'No Risk' When Forcing Aeroflot Plane To Change Flight Level - Pentagon

NATO Spy Jet Posed 'No Risk' When Forcing Aeroflot Plane to Change Flight Level - Pentagon

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2021) A NATO spy plane posed no risk when it forced a civilian Russian aircraft to change its flight level over the Black Sea, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a press briefing on Monday.

"There was no such risk, there was no such unsafe or unprofessional interaction, certainly not by the United States military. It was a matter that was simply resolved by common sense and routine traffic control procedures," Kirby said. "They did not fly at the same altitude. And this happens thousands of time all over the world in all manner and different circumstances. So, our Russian friends were speaking a bit hyperbolically about an incident that actually didn't occur.

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A plane flying from Tel Aviv to Moscow had to change its flight level because of a NATO reconnaissance aircraft that was crossing a civilian aviation route, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) said on Saturday.

According to the agency, the NATO CL-600 plane on Friday morning descended from an altitude of 11,000 to 9,200 meters and crossed the civilian aviation route, not responding to the air traffic service. The same day, Russian airline Aeroflot said its flight SU501 en route from Israel to Russia was ordered to change its flight level during the Friday incident.