Two Russian fighter jets and a Russian surveillance aircraft “buzzed” the Canadian frigate on Sunday, CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported.
One of the fighter jets came within 300 metres of the ship. HMCS Toronto locked its radar weapons system on the Russian aircraft, but took no further action because the planes were unarmed, sources say.
Although the move did not pose a threat to HMCS Toronto or its crew, Russia’s actions were “unnecessarily provocative and risk escalating tensions even further,” the office of Defence Minister Rob Nicholson said in a statement.
HMCS Toronto is currently operating in the Black Sea along with other NATO warships. At the time of the incident, the ship was en route to Operation Sea Breeze, a three-day, U.S.-led exercise with the Ukrainian navy.
The Black Sea borders Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Romania, along with other countries...............http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/russian-planes-circle-hmcs-toronto-in-provocative-move-on-black-sea-1.1997347
8/9/14
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Russian Air Force Su-24 and An-26 planes on scheduled flights over the Black Sea flew near the Canadian Toronto warship, but did not approach it, the Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman Igor Konashenkov told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday....
ReplyDeleteEarlier, Canadian Defense Minister Robert Nicholson said that a Russian warplane on Sunday, September 7, allegedly flew over the Toronto frigate, which was participating in international exercises in the Black Sea.
“The route of Russian Air Force planes crossed the area where the Canadian Navy’s Toronto was, but without approaching the foreign warship,” Konashenkov said. It was a scheduled flight over neutral waters near the Russian state border, he added. "All flights were and are carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of air space over neutral waters," the official said.
The maneuvres of Ukrainian and NATO warships Sea Breeze 2014 began on September 8. Earlier, the Canadian and Spanish frigates Toronto and Almirante Juan de Borbon, the US destroyer Ross, the French corvette Commandant Birot and the Turkish corvette Buyukada came into the sea.
Foreign ships were not planned to call at Ukrainian ports during the exercises........http://en.itar-tass.com/world/748692
9/9/14