MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/. Russia’s Su-27 fighter jets were scrambled to escort two tactical fighter jets - a Mirage 2000 and a Rafale, and a C-135 aerial refueling tanker belonging to the French Air and Space Force over the Black Sea, the National Defense Management Center said on Wednesday.
"The crews of Russian fighter jets identified aerial targets as two tactical fighter jets - a Mirage 2000 and a Rafale, and a C-135 aerial refueling tanker belonging to the French Air and Space Force, and escorted them over the Black Sea. After the foreign warplanes made a U-turn from Russia’s state border, the Russian fighter jets safely returned to their home airfield," the statement said.
There was no unauthorized incursion into Russia’s airspace, the center added.
According to the statement, initially, the air targets approaching Russia’s sovereign airspace had been detected by Russian radars over the neutral waters of the Black Sea. Su-27 fighter jets of the Southern Military District’s air defense units on duty were scrambled to identify the air targets and to prevent a violation of Russia’s border.
"The flights of the Russian fighter jets took place in strict accordance with international rules for airspace use over neutral waters, without crossing flight paths or coming dangerously close to foreign aircraft," Russia’s National Defense Management Center stressed.