A Russian military aircraft nearly collided with a passenger jet over Sweden after turning off transponders to avoid detection, the second near-miss this year for Russian military planes.
The incident took place on Friday, with the Russian aircraft narrowly avoiding the commercial plane above southern Sweden. The passenger jet had taken off from Copenhagen, Denmark.
Swedish jets were scrambled to identify the aircraft, which Sweden’s air force chief, Major General Micael Bydén, said turned out to be a Russian intelligence plane.
“This is serious. This is inappropriate. This is outright dangerous when you turn off the transponder,” Swedish defence minister Peter Hultqvist said on Swedish radio.
The incident comes amid a dramatic increase in military activity for Russia in the Baltic area. Russia has sent dozens of military airplanes near the air space of neighboring countries as a test of NATO defenses, including one stretch earlier this fall in which close to 20 airplanes were detected within a span of 24 hours.
Another blitz came last week, NATO fighter jets intercepting 13 Russian aircraft Sunday and 28 more Monday. NATO pilots were able to capture dramatic video of their confrontations with the Russians, showing a pilot zero in on two Russian supersonic Su-34 fighter jets flying through international air space over the Baltic.
Though the Russian airplanes did not enter the air space of neighboring countries, they failed to file flight plans and were considered a hazard to commercial planes.
“The Russian planes ignored requests to identify themselves and were escorted to Russia’s Baltic Kaliningrad exclave,” a statement from the Dutch Defense Ministry said.
“Russian military activity has been considerable during the last few months. Such activity can be destabilizing and potentially dangerous, if international norms are not respected,” added NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu.
Russia has been increasingly aggressive with its neighbors, with troops and weapons being sent into Ukraine to support pro-Russia rebels this summer. As the conflict dragged on, sources in Ukraine claimed that Russia and President Vladimir Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons.
This is not the first time that a Russian military aircraft nearly collided with a passenger jet. Earlier this year a Russian jet came within a few hundred feet of an SAS plane that had taken off from Copenhagen.
