NEW YORK, October 23. /TASS/. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that the alliance will intercept Russian aircraft violating the allies’ airspace but that the bloc will down them only in the event of a direct threat.
"If necessary, NATO can take down those planes if they pose a threat. If they do not pose a threat, they will be intercepted and then gently being guided outside <…> of [a member country's] airspace," the NATO chief told FOX News in an interview on Wednesday.
In late September, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as irresponsible rhetoric about NATO countries’ readiness to shoot down Russian aircraft for alleged incursions into the alliance’s airspace.